May, 1890. THE YOUNG NATURALIST. 



brood must feed in May, in the young shoots, just then beginning to 

 grow" ("Entomologist's Monthly Magazine," Vol. VIII., p. 154). Mr. 

 Barrett found larvae of the second brood from August 15th, to August 

 24th, in 1870. The earliest notice we have of the larva is by Mr. 

 Stainton and is as follows : — -" The larva of P. isodactylus has been 

 discovered near Rotterdam by M. Snellen von Vollenhoven. It feeds 

 in the stems of Senecio nemorensis : several bred specimens of the per- 

 fect insect have been submitted to Professor Zeller, so that there can 

 be no question of the identity of the species" (" Entomologist's 

 Monthly Magazine," Vol. IV., p. 39). 



Pupa — The pupa is described by Mr. Buckler, (" Entomologist's 

 Monthly Magazine," Vol. VIII., p. 154) as follows: — " The pupa is 

 smooth, nearly three-eighths of an inch in length ; the wing and leg- 

 cases meeting in a point low down the abdomen, and in close contact 

 with it ; in colour, it is pale whitish ochreous ; the abdomen a little 

 deeper tinted, it is generally striped and marked with brown, particu- 

 larly on the head and back of the thorax ; the dorsal marking is a 

 series of brown acute triangles." To this (on the same page) Mr. C. 

 G. Barrett adds : — " This pupa is placed inside the stem, in the final 

 burrow, the hole of the burrow placed exactly against the head of the 

 pupa, so that there is no difficulty about the egress of the perfect in- 

 sect. It is angular and destitute of hairs like those of the allied 

 species (trigonodactylus, ochrodactylus, &>), but lies perfectly free in the 

 burrow, the anal segment not being attached to the usual button of 

 silk." The pupa? were found by Mr. C. G. Barrett from August 10th 

 to the 24th, from which imagos began to emerge on August 20th." 

 I" Entomologist's Monthly Magazine," Vol. VIII., p. 153). The pupa 

 of the first brood must occur in May or June. 



Time of Appearance, &c. — This species is double-brooded, al- 

 though Stainton in the ' Manual,' p. 440, gives " July " only. Very 

 little observation has been made of the earlier brood although several 

 records have been made of the later one. Mr. C. G. Barrett, (Nor- 

 wich) writes : — " In the autumn of last year, I picked up a few speci- 

 mens of P. isodactylus in a marsh by a river side and therefore looked 

 over the place early this summer for plants of some species of Senecio. 

 The grass, however, was rank and growing rapidly and Senecio hard to 

 find, and it was not till June 21st, that, extending my researches into 

 an unexplored corner, I found an ugly scrubby-looking species, Senecio 

 aquaticus growing in some plenty. My search for the larva was, how- 



