the ENTOMOLOGIST’S WEEKLY INTELLIGENCER. 
147 
lired. Another species occurs in extra- 
orilinary numbers on an old limestone (I 
think) wall between Conway and Llau- 
diuino; it is like none that I know of; 
I bred an apterous female out of a lot of 
three cases (that I thought were not 
going to produce anything), and it was 
of a yellowish colour and exceedingly 
active on its le<rs. 
Again, on some fir trees in the centre 
of a large wood at Rudhealh, Cheshire, 
I met with some twenty cases, from which 
I bred a single Jemale. Then there are 
cases on beech trees which I find at 
Dunham Park ; for years these only pro- 
duced females : these larvce take two 
years to arrive at perfection. I send some 
of these larvae by the post for your artist 
to figure, and I will shortly send you 
some larvte of Inconspicuella, from beech 
trees at Prestwich, which regularly pro- 
duce both sexes every year, and after- 
wards you shall have some^f the mill- 
stone-grit larvae, so that you can compare 
all three together. Perhaps between us 
we shall throw a little light on the sub- 
ject. It is very odd how this group is 
neglected by collectors generally ; 1 am 
sure if they were systematically worked 
a good many species would turn up. — 
R. S. Edleston, Botodon, near Man- 
chester ; January 17. 
[W e are extremely obliged to Mr. 
Edleston for the above valuable com- 
munication. On a close scrutiny of the 
insects sent, and a comparison with 
Bruand’s work, wd have come to the con- 
clusion that the Triquelrella of that 
author is, in point of fact, our Incon- 
spicuella (the Triquetrella of the German 
authors being a larger, darker insect), 
and we cannot ourselves distinguish the 
Triquetrella of Mr. Edleston from his 
Inconspicuella, individual specimens of 
the former differing more from one an- 
other than they do from Inconspicuella. 
Indeed the result of this investigation 
has been greatly to shake our faith in the 
specific distiiicluess of N. Douylasii. 
The neuration of the hind wings of these 
insects varies to a very curious degree in 
the same species, two veins being either 
separate at their starting points, or start- 
ing from the same point, or even fused 
together lor some distance, whereas, in 
one specimen we possess, one of these two 
veins has disappeared altogether! But 
we admit that the difference of habit and 
periods of appearance has great weight 
with us, and possibly the species which 
does not appear till May may be really 
distinct from tbe early April insect, In- 
conspicuella. Time will show.] 
Observations on Butalis grandipennis. 
— On the 19lh inst., being well in advance 
of ray printers, I resolved to open the 
campaign by visiting the classic ground 
of Wimbledon Common. My object was 
to try and obtain, either by inspection or 
beating, the larvae of Coleophora albi- 
costa ; but either I was not at the precise 
spot frequented by that insect, or else the 
larvae are not obtainable at tins period of 
the year, for eyes and beating-stick were 
both used to no success, and no Coleo- 
phora larvae rewarded my labours. In- 
stead thereof I fell in with the larvae of 
Butalis grandipennis, and wanting some 
of these to send abroad I proceeded to 
collect them very eagerly. The webs 
they make in the furze bushes are very 
conspicuous, but often very inaccessible ; 
the larva likes to have its habitation 
where four or five branches start off from 
the main stem, and to obtain them you 
must cut the main stem below the web, 
and then proceed to tear off the branches 
seriatim. It is not possible to avoid 
pricking the fingers. When the web is 
thus laid bare, it is too opaque to allow 
of your seeing whether it is tenanted or 
not, and it must be cautiously removed 
from tbe stem and pulled to pieces; in 
this process the larvae are eventually 
brought to light. I thus obtained be- 
tween Ibrty and fifty, and got a good 
notion of the creature’s habits. It is a 
very artful little animal, and, though very 
