1889.] 



THE YOUNG NATURALIST. 



79 



doing anything, and, although it has sometimes ceased raining, the 

 saturated condition of everything rendered the net quite useless, the 

 result was larvae collecting only could be done, and, that only by 

 searching, in which occupation I was generally so far successful as to 

 be quite satisfied with my few hours work, and which coupled with 

 what I had been doing during the winter months, caused an unusually 

 large number of insects to emerge in my cages. 



The following are a few of the best I have bred among a host of 

 commoner species, and, although at the risk of again mentioning some 

 that have been noticed before, there may be a few to whom the 

 following notes may be interesting and probably useful. 

 P. capveana. A nice series emerged from larvae collected in May, the 

 larvae are of a bright green colour and fed in the shoots of Salix 

 caprea, drawing the leaves together with a slight web, they are by 

 no means common, although found in most southern woods. 

 P. demsana. This species, strange to say, emerged rather freely in 

 my cages this year, although, hitherto I have found them rather 

 difficult to breed. The larvae are easily detected on the Buckthorn 

 in September, by the leaves being folded over and fastened 

 together the whole extent of the leaf, they remain in the larva 

 state till the following spring, then crawl about for a day or two 

 and pupate in hollow stems or rough cork ; I have never observed 

 them eating in spring, although, I have repeatedly put in fresh 

 young leaves as soon as it was possible. The larvae are to be 

 found in most of the woods and lanes of Kent and Surrey. 

 P. immundana. A few bred from larvae in rolled leaves of alder. 

 E. trigeminana. A long series emerged from roots of ragwort dug 



during the winter about Thames Haven. 

 5. rufillana. Emerged freely from larvae feeding in the seed heads of 

 Daucas carota, collected the previous autumn on Canvey Island. 



D. alpinana and saturnana. A few bred from roots of tansy, dug at 



Deal, in January. The old spot, near where I got these roots, is, 

 I am sorry to say, now under cultivation. 

 S. leplastriana. Many emerged from stems of wild cabbage, collected 

 at Dover in April, they are detected by the little heaps of 

 brownish frass sticking out of the new shoots and leaf stalks. 



E. atricapitana. Emerged very freely from roots of ragwort dug at 



Thames Haven during the winter. 

 E. ciliana. A nice series in June, from larvae feeding in seeds of cow- 

 slips collected the previous August at Box Hill ; they require 



