1868.1 
181 
year, indeed, mimbGrs of common larvae aro to found in this way, snch as Toenio- 
campa stdbilis and cruda, Orthosia lota, Cosmia irajtezina, Epunda vimhialis, 
occasionally Cerastis vaccinii and spadicea (these two probably hiding in leaves spun 
together by other species), and always Hypsvpetes elutaria and Cheimatohia hrumata, 
as well as some of the Tortrkes ; but the only larva with which retusa is likely to 
be confounded is that of viminalis ; I have therefore described the former rather 
fully, and pointed out the characters which distinguish it from the latter. 
Eetusob, when full-grown, is about an inch in length, tapering slightly towards 
each end, and flat beneath ; the head small, rounded, and rather fiat ; sUn very 
delicate and thin, so that the lines on it show almost as if ribbed or raised, and the 
internal organs partially show through it. The colour is a pale dull green, with a 
yellow tinge towards the head and tail ; a broad dorsal stripe, a fine sub-dorsal, 
and an undulating spiracular line— all whitish m colour ; the spiracles not visible ; 
the head generally yellowish-green, but sometimes very dark Uachish-'brown ; occa- 
sionally also there is a dark collar on the second segment ; young larvae sometimes 
have the usual dots, very visible and black, but lose all trace of them as they 
grow bigger. 
The characters printed above in italics distinguish this larva from that of 
Epunda viminalis, which has a much firmer texture of skin, a thicker and more 
corneous head (which is pale grey with the lobes outlined in black) ; the lines more 
sharply defined, and two pairs of whitish dots on the back of each segment. — 
J. Hellins, October 9th, 1867. 
Note on Ephyra omicronaria. — I hardly know whether it is worth recording, 
that of three larvEe which Mr. D'Orville gave me July 10th, 1866, two appeared as 
moths on 26th and 27th of the same month, whilst the third remained in pupa until 
May 8th, 1867. Also that in two of these three specimens, full-sized and otherwise 
perfect, the omicron is entirely absent from both fore- and hind-wings. — Id. 
Notes on Tortrkes. — There appears to be some uncertainty about the habits of 
some internal feeding Tortrices, their appearance at different and distant times 
leading naturally to the supposition that they are double or treble-brooded. One 
of these is Penthina ^narginana, which is to be found in this neighbourhood at 
intervals from the middle of May till late in August. 
Last winter I met vdth a few plants of teazle, a rare plant in this neighbour- 
hood, and found that several of the heads contained larvse. These I preserved, but 
they produced nothing till June 26th, when two females of P. margiiiana emerged. 
I had, however, taken a female of this species as early as May 11th, and by June 
1st had found males badly worn. 
From these captures the natural inference would be that the May brood pro- 
duced those found in July and August, yet larvae found in the winter produced 
nothing till the end of June, and it seems reasonable to suppose, therefore, that 
there is but one brood, very irregular in its appearance. 
There may be another solution of the difiiculty— that we have two species 
under the name of marginana, and I am inclined to think that this is the case ; 
but the whole history of the insect requires careful investigation, since it occurs 
most commonly in places where there are certainly no teazles for it to feed in. 
