132 
THE WEEKLY ENTOMOLOGIST. 
tirpation of insects, but the mighty 
and good giver of all things proved 
more powerful than he. 
That some species would be diffi- 
cult to extirpate I freely admit, but 
that others can be destroyed, is clear. 
I do hope no one calling himself a 
Naturalist, will prove it to demon- 
stration. C. S. Geegson, Stanley 
Grove, Liverpool. Oct. 18. 1862. 
^ Notes on Lepidopterous larva. 
( continued.] 
L. Salicaria. Has been reared on 
bedstraw, ( Galium saxatile and verum ) 
a delicate grey larva with brown 
dorsal, subdorsal and spiracular lines, 
and eight pairs of brown subdorsal 
spots. 
L. Migria, ( Pectinitaria . II. II) 
Will eat various kinds of bedstraw. 
E. Decolor at a. Last year I found 
several larvae in the male or sterile 
flowers of Lychnis Dioica and vesper- 
tina. 
Melanthia. I have nothing to say 
of the food of the three species 
in this genus, but only wish to com- 
pare their habits. Rubiginata re- 
mained in the egg from July till 
April, when they came forth — little 
gaudy orange-colored fellows with 
dark heads ; they fed on Aldei till 
the end of May, when they spun up, 
each in a corner of a leaf, first nib- 
bling out little holes over a space 
about as big as a sixpence, in order, 
as it seemed, to make the leaf more 
pliable for folding. The moths 
emerged from the middle to the end 
of June. The larva of Ocellata 
hatched in August, fed up on bed 
straw during the Autumn, and, before 
winter, made themselves up in little 
silken cocoons, some below, some 
above, the surface of the ground, 
but not becoming pupae till March or 
April, the moths appearing in July 
and August. The larvae of Albicillata 
hatched about the end of June, fed 
upon bramble, changed to pupae by 
the end of July, and the moths, 
(slightly forced) appeared next May. 
C. Ferrugaria and TJnidentaria . — 
The food preferred by both these 
varieties (?), or species, is certainly 
Ground-ivy ( Glechoma hederacea). 
My reason for putting the query is 
this. During the last three or four 
years I have seen or heard of some 
twenty or thirty broods reared from 
the egg, and in every case, all the 
perfect insects have appeared of the 
same color as the parent moth, — 
^neither variety (?), being produced 
by the other. 
P. Lignata. A fetf larvae hatched 
from eggs sent me this summer, made 
choice of Galium mollugo and have 
now attained about half their size, 
but, from present appearances, I 
judge, they will not become pupae 
until spring. 
C. Picata. Often reared on Chick- 
weed, but I doubt if this is the 
proper food, for though the moths 
appear very perfect I fancy they are 
scarcely so large as captured speci- 
mens. And this need not bo the result 
of captivity only for I have specimens 
of A. Badiata and M. Albicillata 
bred in coufinemcnt, which expand 
