1880 .] 
155 
THE LIFE-HISTOKY OF GRAPROLITEA NIGRICANA. 
BY JOHN H. WOOD, M.B. 
The occurrence of this insect in England has been already re- 
corded in this Magazine (Vol. xiv, p. 241) from a single specimen taken 
here in the summer of 1875 or 76. As, however, it had been repeatedly 
looked for since without success, I was beginning to fear it was an 
accidental introduction that had failed to established itself, when, on 
July 17th, 1879, I beat a specimen in fine order out of a group of 
silver-fir ( Abies picea). Two days later I found the little moths 
flying in the early afternoon round these same fir trees. They flew 
rather high, but gusts of wind occasionally brought them within reach 
of the net, and I secured nearly twenty specimens, and then desisted 
from fear of working the species too hard. At the end of the month 
though much occupied with other matters, I made an effort to visit 
the locality once more, with the hope of getting, if possible, a gravid 
female. On this occasion no moths were to be seen flying round the 
trees, but I beat out of the lower branches two worn individuals. 
These were placed in a bottle with a sprig of picea : one of them died 
very shortly, but the other lived a week, and laid seven or eight ova. 
These, with the exception of one or two that were laid on the cork of 
the bottle, were deposited singly on the needles. They were large, 
round, full, and very conspicuous for the ova of so small a moth, of a 
dirty-white colour, which afterwards became reddish, this change, 
being seen under a lens, to be due to the development of an irregular 
band of that colour round the base. Early in September, the larvae 
appeared — little yellow fellows with black heads. They were placed 
on fresh sprigs of the silken fir, but nothing more was seen of them, 
nor could any trace of their workings be afterwards found in leaf or 
bud, though carefully looked for. Still, I had little doubt from the 
evident liking the moths had for this fir, that it was the proper food, 
and that there would probably be little difficulty when spring came 
round of again taking the matter up. On the 15th of February, the 
attempt was made, and successfully. I found the larvae feeding in the 
buds, indicating their whereabouts by the covering of silk spun over 
the spot at which they had entered. The terminal buds of the side 
shoots were those chiefly attacked. These are usually arranged in 
sets of three, and the larvae eat them out one after the other, con- 
verting them into a common cavity. At this date the larvae was still 
very small, brown, and with black head and plates. Towards the 
middle of April they became full-fed, when they came out of the buds 
