Reports to various Correspondents. 75 
Bouche (Stett. Ent. Zeit., 1847, p. 145) bred E. seneus and 
E. strigatus (which are now considered the same species) from bulbs 
of the common onion which they destroyed just as the larvae of 
Merodon do narcissi, and sometimes, he says, they destroy a whole 
crop ; the larvae occurred in July and pupated in the bulbs and in 
the earth. These larvae have not so far, I believe, been found in 
onions in this country. The grubs or maggots of onions are those 
of Phorbia cepetorum, Meade. 
Swarms of Luffia “ Case-Bearers ” on Garden 
Wall. 
During May Mr. William Bear sent a number of little case- 
bearers, with the following note : — 
“ In another packet I send some little lichen-encased larvae. An 
old garden wall was thickly covered with them this morning, after a 
shower. As the sun got out, most of them got into the holes or 
cracks of the wall. With them early in the morning were numbers 
of little brown bugs ; they had also all disappeared after breakfast.” 
The case-bearers sent belong to the Psychid family Luffiidse , and 
to the genus Luffia* 
Mr. J. Hartley Durrant has examined them and says they most 
probably are Luffia lapidella. There are two species of this genus in 
Britain, viz., Luffia lapidella and L. ferchaultella. The latter species 
is parthenogenetic. The larvae of these moths live in cases, and also 
the pupae. The females are nearly apterous and crawl out on to the 
larval cases. Males when they occur are winged. Ho male is at 
present known of ferchaultella , but that of lapidella is well known. 
The male lapidella is 9 to 12*25 mm. long in wing expanse; fore- 
wings dark grey, a black line on the hind margin, a curved discoidal 
mark and two others basal to it ; posterior wings of a dull leaden- 
g re y> paler than the anterior. They vary considerably. The adult 
female is almost apterous, but there are thread-like winglets ; the 
anteiioi wing is in the form of a black filament ten times as long 
as broad, longer and narrower than the first tibia ; the posterior 
wings are parallel to the anterior and about one-third of the length. 
The insect appears grey to the naked eye. The female moves very 
little, she sits on her case and chances being fertilised by the winged 
male. Her body becomes full of eggs, which she places in the case ; 
to do this she is provided with a long three-jointed ovipositor. If 
* A full account may be seen in Tutt’s “British Lepidoptera,” Yol. II. p. 229. 
