62 
THE ENTOMOLOGIST’S WEEKLY INTELLIGENCER. 
Syringaria has not received them, will 
he please drop me a line, as my list 
is unfortunately mislaid? — W. Culver- 
well, Thorp Perroen, Bedale^ Yorkshire; 
May 19. 
Exchange. — I shall he glad to receive 
offers of ovae, larvae, pupae or images, in 
exchange for the larvae of Psilura Mo- 
nacha, Hypogymna Dispar and Thanaos 
C'ralcegi . — E. Tearle, Gainsborough; 
May 21. 
NATURAL HISTORY OF THE 
TINEINA. 
Depressaria Alriponctella. 
The egg is no doubt deposited in 
spring by the hyberuated female. The 
larva is probably hatched about the 
middle of May ; it feeds on the leaves of 
C/uerophyllum sylvesire (perhaps also on 
other Umbelliferae) ; it draws the two 
sides of the tip of a leaf or leaflet 
together, so as to form a sort of tubular 
habitation; it then eats the edges of the 
leaf in the vicinity of its retreat, to which 
it hurriedly retreats on any alarm ; it 
frequently removes from one leaflet to 
another, but constructs a similar tubular 
abode ; when it is more fully grown it 
turns down a larger pbrtion of the leaf. 
About the end of June or beginning of 
July the larva has attained its full size; 
it then descends to the ground and 
changes to the pupa state on the surface 
of the earth. In three or four weeks 
the perfect insect makes its appearance ; 
it may be met with throughout the 
autumn months, and also, after hy- 
bernation, in the spring of the following 
year. 
H. T. S'J AINTON. 
UNKNOWN LARV^. 
To the Editor of the ‘Intelligencer.' 
Sir, — Among the manp^ points de- 
manding the attention of the Lepi- 
dopterist, there is ohe which has an 
important bearing on the position he 
% 
occupies in relation to intelligence, as 
compared with students in other de- 
partments of Zoology — I mean his 
knowledge of the preliminary stages of 
the insects he studies. Notwithstanding 
the attention which has been paid in this 
country to Lepidoplerous insects, the 
number of “ unknown ” larvm is still very 
great. I have made out a list of larvae 
which are either undescribed or of which 
the food is unknown, and, although the 
Tineiua are not included, the number 
amounts to nearly 400 ! 
Now I think all true friends of En- 
tomology must regret that this great gap 
in our knowledge, which amounts to a 
reproach on every collector of standing, 
should remain without some united effort 
being made to fill it up. Indeed, the 
reproach is even deeper than it appears, 
for of our own known larvae, the majority 
(excepting the Tortrices and Tineina) 
are only so known from foreign descrip- 
tions ; that is, if Englishmen have bred 
the larva they have not published its 
description from their own observation, 
and the foreign account, often admittedly 
misleading to us, passes muster. This 
anomalous and discreditable state of 
things would excite astonishment in any 
other department of Natural History, 
and I should like to see a commence- 
ment made at a collected English de- 
scription of our English larvffi. H undreds 
