226 
THE entomologist’s RECORD. 
must also take a strong and sharp knife to cut off the Typha stems, a 
bag to put them into when cut ; and a strong plank for crossing dykes 
and more than usually bottomless bogs, is also very useful. First to 
find the foodplant. Strong beds by the edges of rivers or broads do 
not seem of much use ; straggling or overgrown patches in small ponds 
in the bog are more likely. Typha latifolia is the favourite, but where 
small patches of it are surrounded by Z*. angustifolia beds, the latter 
may produce a goodly number. Plants with the two inmost leaves 
fading and yellow should be chosen, though if the larva has but lately 
entered a fresh stem the leaves will be scarcely affected, and many 
healthy-looking plants, especially with latTolia^ may produce a larva, 
the hole where it has entered will often serve as a guide to inhabited 
stems. In searching latifolia it is best to take one central leaf in each 
hand and gently pull them apart when the pupa, or larva, will be seen, 
if there, by looking down the hole thus opened ; but in angustifolia the 
leaves wrap round one another more and cannot be opened from the 
centre, so the outer leaves should be peeled off till one be found 
marked with a round semi-transparent spot like a black bruise on the 
leaf, which is caused by the hole eaten almost through the leaf by the 
larva before pupating for emergence. The tip of the knife may be 
carefully inserted, and the thin piece readily removed, to make sure the 
owner is within. The stem should be cut off some six inches below 
this hole. Naturally a great many N. typhce are found at the same 
time, but they are very easy to distinguish. The larva of caimce. is 
green, and its frass, when fresh, is green, and when dry, nearly white, 
and has at all times a curious transparent and glutinous appearance ; 
the hole for emergence is very circular, and the central leaves are spun 
together with silk just above it ; the larva pupates head upwards, and 
the pupae has a very distinct beak, enclosing the palpi, pointing 
upwards. The larva of typhce. is pinkish brown, and the frass is a 
warm sienna brown ; there is generally a mass of it at the top above 
the pupa, the first thing that meets one’s eye when pulling apart the 
central leaves ; the emergence hole is of irregular shape, and of course 
beneath the pupa, as typhce pupates head downwards ; the beak is not 
nearly so large as in cannce, and stands out at a right angle from the 
pupa. The best treatment for the pupae is to stick the lower end of the 
cut stems containing them in wet sand in flowerpots, and stand them in a 
large box with plenty of ventilation, and water them freely every day, to 
keep the stems from drying, in which case they often shrink and crush 
the pupae. The larvae should be treated in the same manner, and if 
they crawl out of their old stems, fresh green ones must be provided 
for them, and they will rapidly eat their way in. Mine began to 
emerge on August 23rd, and continued up to September 12th. The 
imagines show great variation of colour from a light buff, generally 
found in the females, and no doubt protective as resembling dried 
leaves of the typha, through warm reds to a dark leaden brown, but 
these dark forms are not frequent. — E. Al’GUSius Bowles, Myddelton 
House, Waltham Cross, Herts. September 2^th, 1891. 
Reading, — At Reading, moths have been much more plentiful this 
summer than they have been for some years, but butterflies scarce. I 
have taken Hypefiodes albistrigalis and Acidalia straminata here for 
the first time. H. albistrigalis^ by stirring the brambles in the beech 
