LG LT x tanens cavie wlbsthocs Crease: Pegi ser Te Ris ~ , 5 pip i ae OS ira rary of the aid OF ‘COMPARATIVE ZOOLOGY, AT HARVARD COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE, MASS, | Founded by private subscription, in 1861. EMP PAO IAL IOS Deposited by ALEX. AGASSIZ. | = No. // J lees. £ L6G is GG Rs" ti ee hy Rn 7 ras j ny ve +4 id mh a4 nay? c vot wi ‘ THE wee. SOUCTET Y. ae INSTITUTED MDCCCXLIV. This volume is issued to the Subscribers to the Ray SociEty for the Year 1888, LONDON: MDCCCLXXXIX. ? a , * ee . » i i a - : } ; ian - . . * * - - } + r My { of 7 i ~ “ul { n ri - . . : . = 1 ( ‘ ae y i i . ‘ ie i i 1 rs ~ . = . \ : i’ } - 4 f iL ; i { ; ap AQUI Ow u = ‘ ex . < ’ 4 a 9 7 ai) : =i ~ - 2% oP iy ‘ , ty = a 7 bps ae 5¥ erads seta anh aa Hanns? ae hon Tiny f say r 21S AR THE LARVA OF THE BRITISH BUTTERFLIES AND MOTHS. BY (THE LATE) WILLIAM BUCKLER, EDITED BY meet. STAINTON, °F.B.S. Vor LE. (THE CONCLUDING PORTION OF THE BOMBYCES.) LONDON: PRINTED FOR THE RAY SOCIBTY. »” MDCCCLXXXIX. CXS qQ /~ > _ Ys 7. s —> al ¢ x * i -—3 l a a a! Aa i, OS SO ERIU > at f POOR LN, - MCZ LIBRARY HARVARD UNIVERSITY - CAMBRIDGE. MA USA PRINTED BY ADLARD AND SON, BARTHOLOMEW CLOSE. 4 ' a a r ’ * a = = = : a nit y ‘ mtp , i? PREFACE. In the second volume of this work the larve of the first twenty-seven of our Bombyces appeared; the present volume includes the remainder of our Bom- byces. Since the publication of Vol. II, the Ray Society has sustained a most serious loss in the death of the Rey. John Hellins, who had for so many years worked with Mr. Buckler at the subject of which these volumes treat. Though Mr. Hellins had not been in robust health of late years, it was hoped that he would have been spared to us for some years longer, to assist in the completion of several more of these volumes. The task which had specially devolved on the Rev. John Hellins was that of writing out the descriptions of those numerous larve, of which, although they had been faithfully depicted by Mr. Buckler, no descriptive notes by him were extant amongst his papers, nor had ~ he at any time published descriptions of them. Thus, out of the seventy-nine larve figured in the present volume, only thirty-two were described at the time of Mr. Buckler’s decease. We had hoped that descriptions of a large propor- tion of the forty-seven which were thus deficient would have been furnished by Mr. Hellins, but, un- al PREFACE. fortunately, his sudden death on the 9th May, 1887, when just in the very midst of his labours (when he was actually receiving larvee by almost every post from some of his numerous friends) compelled us to seek for help in other quarters. This, however, we found a most difficult matter ; those who had the necessary skill and capacity for describing larvee lacked the time. After some anxious correspondence on the subject, it was hoped a solution of the difficulty had been found, and 1t was announced in the pages of the ‘ Hntomologist’s Monthly Maga- zine,’ vol. xxiv, p. 20, in the obituary notice of the Rev. John Hellins, that ‘‘at the earnest solicitation of the Ray Society, Mr. W. H. B. Fletcher, of Fairlawn House, Worthing,.Sussex, had kindly:undertaken to take up the broken thread of Mr. Hellins’ work.” | Since this announcement was made in June, 1887, Mr. Fletcher has devoted much time and no small amount of patience to the task, but unfortunately the more he worked at the subject the more it seemed to grow, and his ideas of what a complete description should be developed even in a larger proportion; so that just when his MS. was expected to be ready for press he found that still another year or two of obser- vation was needed to render the matter which he had to furnish worthy of the subject and of the reputation of the Ray Society. In this dilemma he wrote to me to the following effect : | BERSTED LopGE, BoGNnor, SUSSEX ; December 31st, 1888. My pEAR Sir, I am afraid the object of this letter will not be very agreeable to you, and I am certainly sorry PREFAOR. Vil to have to write it. Briefly, it is to ask you to release me from the work I have undertaken for the Ray Society. I find that to do it as it should be done would require all my time unceasingly, summer and winter, for many years. This I cannot give to it. My engagements other than entomological are so increasingly numerous that were I entirely to give up collecting on my own account, and to devote myself to the Ray Society’s work alone, I could not carry it out as it should be done. When you first asked me to undertake the work, I thought that Mr. Buckler had written out most of the life-histories and that merely an odd species here and there had to be worked out if possible. I little dreamt that nearly all the common, and many of the less obtainable larve had not been described by him. Had I alot of old material by me, the position would be different from what it is. Coming in while the volumes are being published, and starting anew with no chance of checking one year’s work by repeating it in the following season, can only result in the accumu- lation of a mass of undigested information probably full of inaccuracy and, in any case, quite unworthy of the splendid series of volumes published by the Society. The following reasons, among others, have made me realise that it is not possible for me to carry out the task properly : (1) During my absence from home, and indeed, owing to pressure of work when I am there, larvee often change their skins and pass a stage unobserved and undescribed, when, in my opinion, all the labour spent on them becomes useless, and should be repeated Vill PREFACE. another year, this being, under the present circum- stances, impossible. (2) I find it is only possible to study a few life- histories in any one year. (3) It is only in trying to write out some of my notes that I have found out the form in which they can best be taken. Needless to say that mine, copious as they are, are not in that form. When inviting me to take up the work hitherto done by Mr. Hellins, you introduced the subject by asking the question ‘*‘ Who is to do it?” May I now tardily answer it, Sussex fashion, with another query, “Why doit?’ Why not publish the Plates, together with Messrs. Buckler’s and Hellins’ articles and notes, as their work pure and simple? This course would, in my opinion, result in the production of a grand work of reference, which would be for the United Kingdom what Hiibner’s great work is for the Continent. I must again apologise for the inconvenience you have been caused by the course I have taken. You will probably agree with me that to have been inun- dated with a mass of ill-digested materials would have been a worse evil still, and will allow at least that I am doing at last what I ought to have done earlier in asking you to release me from the duty I had under- taken. With the best wishes of the season, Tam Yours very truly W. 4H. B. FretcHer. H. T. Stainton, Esq., F.R.S., Mountsfield, Lewisham. In this position of affairs it has been decided to PREFACE. 1X restrict the letterpress of this volume to the materials left by Mr. Buckler and Mr. Hellins, without further seeking for any extraneous aid. As in the previous volumes, the letters W. B. or J. H. after each description indicate whether written by William Buckler or by John Hellins, and the figures immediately following give the date when the descrip- tion was written for publication, the reference that follows being to the volume and page of the ‘ Ento- mologist’s Monthly Magazine,’ or to Mr. Buckler’s Note Books. We are again indebted to Mr. G. C. Bignell for a list of the parasites bred from the larvee of which the present volume treats. H, 'T. STAINTON, MouNTSFIELD, LEWISHAM ; January 25th, 1889. alee xi f — - ts o€ . 2 st a gee A 24 =< et oa mt tn ee #8 a ~ i fi . t << ~~ @ ot CONTENTS OF VOL. III. PAGE Diloba ceruleocephala , eae | Petasia nubeculosa . ; eee: Peridea trepida ; ; ome Orgyia antiqua : ; , Miltochrista miniata : . 18 Lithosia caniola. , . 14 — aureola ; : : : . 15 — helvola . 16 — stramineola . ; : ee = complana : ; : : . 49 — complanula : : ‘ : : ea! —— molybdeola (sericea) : , : . 22 — griseola : ee : : : . 23 — pygmeola : : : ; : . 25 — muscerda , : . 26 (Hnistis quadra ; ; . 29 Gnophria rubricollis : ; : ‘ . 34 Cybosia mesomella ; : : ‘ . 34 Philea irrorella ; : : ; : i oO Nudaria mundana . : : 3 F So om —— genex . : : : ‘ « oh Nola strigula : ; ; : : ~ ao — albulalis : : : A : + 4h — centonalis A ; ; : : . 44 Spilosoma lubricepeda z : . 50 Deiopeia pulchella . : : : 2 we Lasiocampa quercus , : : : 7 OG —-—vv.callune . ; ; : : i 8 Pecilocampa populi : , », oo Odonestis potatoria : : : . 60 Endromis versicolor F : : » 60 Drepana sicula . : ‘ ; : . 66 — hamula ' : : : : ne Heterogenea asellus . 73 List of Parasites bred from those panies of thé Bosikigeiad anh are included in this volume ; : ‘ SR INDEX : : 5 : ; ‘ = OO . 7 * ‘ - - . { ( 4 ft uA \ we , CLASSIFIED LIST OF THE SPECIES IN THIS VOLUME. HETEROCERA. Group BOMBYCINA. Family NoTODONTID& (continued). Diloba ceruleocephala Petasia cassinea » nubeculosa Peridea trepida Clostera reclusa "i anachoreta . - curtula Pygezra bucephala Family LIPaARID&. Psilura monacha Hypogymna dispar . Dasychira fascelina . & pudibunda . Demas coryli Orgyia antiqua. » gonostigma . Lelia czenosa Stilpnotia salicis Porthesia chrysorrhea A aurifiua Family LirHosi1ipz. Miltochrista miniata Lithosia caniola sf aureola F helvola PAGE I] PLATE XXXVI, fig. XXXVI, fig. XXXVI, fig. XXXVI, fig. XXXVIL fig. XXXVIL, fig. XXXVII, fig. XXXVII, fig. XXXVIL, fig. XXXVIL fig. XXXVIII, fig. XX XVIII, fig. XXXVIII, fig. XXXIX, fig. XXXIX, fig. XX XIX, fig. XXXIX, fig. XL, fig. XL, fig. XL, fig. XL, fig. - XL, fig. fas) XL, fig. Bm OD eR S& Ww dF LD HS B® OO DD BH 0 DH & OS Ole CO XIV Family LiTHosiip”® (continued )— Lithosia stramineola s complana . oe complanula és molybdeola (sericea) . * griseola oh pygmeola . $s muscerda . (Hinistis quadra Gnophria rubricollis Cybosia mesomella . Philea irrorella Nudaria mundana 2 senex Family NoLip”. Nola cucullatella » strigula albulalis . » centonalis , cristulalis Family CHELONIDA. Hypercompa dominula Euthemonia russula CLASSIFIED LIST OF THE PAGE Ey 19 SPECIES. PLATE XLI, fig. XLI, fig. XLI, fig. XLI, fig. XLI, fig. XLI, fig. XLI, fig. XLII, fig. XLII, fig. XLII, fig. XLII, fig. XLITI, fig. XLII, fig. XLIUI, fig. XLIUII, fig. XLILII, fig. XLITI, fig. XLITI, fig. XLIV, fig. XLIV, fig. Dore fF wD NN SD oO BR OD DO & NIO Ot ® CO 1 2 Arctia caja (N.B.—No figure of tie adult tay va by Mr. Buckler which would bear reproduction exists; being one of our very commonest species, it could be figured at any time; moreover, every entomologist is perfectly familiar with the larva, and needs no figure of it—H. T. 8.) villica ; Nemeopbila plantaginis . Phragmatobia fuliginosa . Spilosoma menthastri papyratia ” lubricepeda Diaphora mendica Callimorpha jacobzez Eulepia cribrum Deiopeia pulchella 39 39 Family BOMBYCID&. Lasiocampa rubi “ trifolii . “6 quercus 50 52 56 LILY, -fig. XLIYV, fig. XLIV, fig. XLV, fig. XLV, fig. XLV, fig. XLV, fig. XLV, fig. . ALVE fie: XLVI, fig. XLVI, fig. XLVI, fig. XLVIL, fig. XLVII, fig. WHE ok WDHB o CLASSIFIED LIST OF THE SPECIES. Family BomBYcIDz& (continued)— Lasiocampa qguercus, var. callune . Eriogaster lanestris . Peecilocampa populi 33 99 Trichiura crategi Clisiocampa custrensis = neustria Odonestis potatoria . Gastropacha quercifolia . P ilicifolia Family ENDROMIDZ. Endromis versicolor Family SATURNID2. Saturnia carpini Family PLATYPTERYGIDA Cilix spinula Platypteryx lacertinaria . Drepana sicula. = falcataria . se hamula * unguicula . Family PsycHIpZ. Psyche nigricans » fusca Fumea nitidella Family CocHLIOPODID&. Heterogenea asellus . Limacodes testudo PAGE 58 58 60 60 XV PLATE XLVIL, fig. XLVI, fig XLVIITI, fig. XLIX, fig. XLIX, fig. L, fig. L, fig. ih; fig. bi fig: LI, fig. LL fig. LII, fig. LIL, fig. 5 LII, fig. 5 LII, fig. LIII, fig. LUT, fig. LIII, fig: LIIL, fig. LIU, fig. LILL, fig. LIU, fig. LILI, tig. ahs) NorFwWNRNFe DS & GC DO — & W LO THE LARVA OF THE BRITISH MOTHS. DILOBA CHRULEOCEPHALA. Plate XXXVI, fig. 1. Dorine the winter of 1881-82 the Rev. J. Hellins sent me three eggs of ceruleocephala ; they were brown and apparently ribbed, but the ribs could not be counted as they were so curiously covered with bristly brown hairs. On the 6th of February Mr. Hellins asked to have them returned, as he had lost those he had kept for himself, so returned them. On the 11th of March he reported that two of them had hatched and were bristly little fellows. On the 30th of March I received one of the larvae, that had passed its first moult, feeding on white- thorn; it was 4 lines long or 11 mm., of stoutish and uniform proportion, of a lightish grey colour with yellow dorsal stripe and spiracular line, black head, and a streak of yellow across the upper lip, a black oblong squarish spot across the middle of the second segment, a transverse series of round black dots on the third and fourth, on the back of those beyond they occurred in trapezoids, a larger oval black spot was on the front part of the thirteenth segment, and a black plate on the anal flap ; one black dot on the side of Won Til. - | 1 ru DILOBA CAHRULEOCEPHALA. each segment, a smaller one following rather lower down near the division and touching the spiracular yellow line; the black spiracle being situated between the two dots; close beneath the yellow line occurred a black dot followed by another lower down and more behind, and another on each prolee; the belly was hight greyish-green; a black hair proceeded from each black spot. Skin smooth and rather glistening. On the 5th of April, this larva having moulted a second time, came again to me, and on the 6th I figured it. It now measured 6 lines, or 13 mm. long, and of stouter proportion; the ground colour of the body a deep bluish-grey, the dorsal and spiracular stripes bright yellow, the dorsal widening at the end of each segment, except on the third segment, where it was a transverse bar in the middle; no yellow on the head nor on the back of the second segment, where the ground was of a paler grey than the rest of the body, as it also was on the thirteenth segment; the yellow dorsal mark on the twelfth segment was very much broader than on others; the yellow spiracular stripe was straight at its lower margin and widest at the end of each segment; the lobes of the head black and glossy, centre part of face between them light grey, marked above the lip with black; mouth black. The squarish black plate on the second segment was com- posed of four black shining spots run together, but dorsally divided by a fine thread of light grey. The other round black spots of the body appeared velvety from their being covered with short bristly pubescence, and each spot emitted a black hair. Belly leaden-grey with black spots, some of them of smaller size. On the 18th of April, after the third moult (which is supposed to have occurred on the 10th—11th), the length was 15 mm., or nearly five-eighths of an inch, and of stouter proportion, having an elevated trans- verse ridge on the middle of the back of the third segment and another on the twelfth ; the ground colour of the head was greyish-white, likewise the dorsal line DILOBA CHRULEOCEPHALA. 33 of the second segment and the anal flap; the colour of the body, 7. e. the back and belly, was very dark slaty-grey, the dorsal stripe and the spiracular stripe of bright pale yellow as before; the lobes of the head had each a large black spot on the crown; the ocelli in a black spot below, the face and lip greyish-white, also papille tipped with black, edge of lip black; the second segment pale yellow across the middle with two pairs of black spots in front and again at the back ; the ridge on the third segment was bright yellow, bearing two black tubercles, that on the twelfth seg- ment also yellow, bearing four black tubercles in pairs ; all the tubercles were velvety-black and bristly; the dorsal ones on the third and fourth segments bore two long black hairs, but all the others only one black hair ; a black, horny oval spot was on the outer side of each ventral proleg; anterior legs black. By the 16th of April it had become 9% lines long or 20 mm., and by the 18th was 11 lines or 23 mm. long. By the morning of April 25th it had moulted again for the fourth time, and on the 29th measured 1+ inches or 32 mm., stout and cylindrical ; a transverse elevated ridge across the middle of the third and twelfth seg- ments of bright pale yellow; the dorsal yeliow stripe was a little interrupted at the end of each segment ; the spiracular stripe was broadish and abruptly-con- trasted with the dingy greenish smoky-grey of the belly, but above was softened off a little into the ereenish-erey of the side, and this was separated from the very pale bluish-grey of the back by a subdorsal stout line of white, very softly edged and faint. By the 6th of May, when stretched out it was 15 inches long and stout in proportion, the skin smooth (apparently) but without gloss, the black spots round, dull, and rough, each surrounded by a whitish halo. By the 8th it was full-fed, and in a day or two began to contract in length and wander about until the 12th, when in the course of the night it spun itself up within an oval cocoon of whitish silk overlaid with portions A, DILOBA CHRULEOCEPHALA. of hawthorn leaves, so as to cover and almost hide the cocoon. The moth, a female, emerged on the 26th of October. The oblong cocoon when cut open was found to be very tough and strong, white and smooth within. The pupa of true Bombyx shape measured 7 lines in length and of stout proportions, the abdominal tip furnished with two lateral projections suggestive of the previous anal prolegs, and each bearing several bristly hairs, and traces yet remained, though minute, on other parts of the former hairs of the tubercular warts; the entire surface of every part being very dull and rather rough, while a band of stronger roughness, approaching almost to thorny points, was on the middle of the back of each abdominal segment. The colour was of a sooty brown- ish-black or blackish-brown ; spiracles rather promi- . nent. (W. B., Note Book IV, 104.) PETASIA NUBEOCULOSA. Plate XXXVI, fig. 3. On the 6th of May, 1881, I received from Mr. H. McArthur, while he was collecting at Rannoch, a dozen egos of this species, laid loose or on small morsels of bark; of these two proved infertile, the first egg hatched on May 16th being one I had previously sent to the Rev. J. Hellins; with me two were seen to be hatched in the early morning of the 17th, two at mid- night, three by next morning, one near midnight following, and the last one by the morning of the 19th. All my young larve took to birch readily, but the one in Mr. Hellins’ care chose oak, and fed on it until its third moult, and from that time, the 4th of June, it wouldeat birch and not oak. After feeding their growth was very perceptible, and when six days old they each in turn lay up for moulting ; this operation occurred five times in all before their full growth was attained. PETASIA NUBECULOSA. 5 Generally they agreed very well together, though two individuals during the earlier stages, while helplessly laid up waiting to moult, appeared to have been incon- veniently in the way of some of the others, and so got fatally bitten behind; afterwards, with more space, they proved to be very contented and well-behaved. They became full-fed from June 26th to 29th and retired to earth; over the earth, at the end of June, I placed a thick covering of moss, and found after- wards that only two had elected to remain below in the earth, and the other five were lying in the pupa state on its surface beneath the moss; the larva, with Mr. Hellins, had buried itself four or five inches deep in the loose leaf-mould furnished for its retreat. Il bred three male moths and one female in March, 1882; the single pupa of Mr. Hellins’ stood over a second winter and disclosed a fine male imago, Feb- ruary 15th, 1883 ; my remaining pup produced five male and female specimens April Ist, 1883. It has been pointed out before that the egg of Nubeculosa (as well as those of P. Cassinea and Diloba ceruleocephala) does not so much follow the Notodonta as the Noctua* type, being circular and convex above, with a largish central space covered with irregular reticulation, and on the sides from forty to forty-five blunt ribs, with somewhat coarse transverse lines ; in height about one thirty-sixth of an inch, in width= about one twenty-fourth ; the shell rather glistening, the colour at first dirty drab-green but soon becoming closely and tortuously streaked and blotched with blackish-green ; a few hours before hatching these marks become indistinct and clouded, and the shell looks somewhat shrivelled. The newly-hatched larva is about one tenth of an inch in length, with the first and second pairs of ventral pro- legs less developed than the third and fourth pairs, so that the walk is semi-looping ; the head ofa rather light, shining orange-brown colour; the back slaty-grey ; the * Many systematists class these species amongst the Noctue—H. T. 8, 6 PETASIA NUBECULOSA. sides pale drab ; the black warts very large and round, each furnished with a small black bristle. In this stage the likeness to ceruleocephala is marked, but at each moult the warts become proportionately smallerand less conspicuous, besides assuming another colour, and so this resemblance disappears. From the first the young larva eats small holes quite through the leaves of its food, and I noticed its habit of spinning a few threads for a foot-hold. After the first moult a shght protuberance appeared on the twelfth segment and front portion of the thir- teenth ; the ground colour was pale greenish, bearing dorsal to subdorsal lines of paler dots, and on the middle segments a wide sort of incomplete V in very fine black lines; the black tubercular dots were much smaller than before, and only to be seen with a lens, but their bristles had become longer ; the anterior legs were black, and on the outside of each ventral proleg was a black spot. After the second moult the head was pale shining green, the body light dull green, having a purplish tinge in it, the tubercular dots pale yellowish, the dorsal markings composed of elongate whitish-yellow dots, two on a segment, and along the subdorsal region were four yellowish dots on each segment, a slanting streak of the same colour appeared on the side of the fourth, and a transverse streak on the ridge of the twelfth, and a black spot on each ventral proleg as before. Having moulted the third time, June 3rd—5th, the larvee began to assume their well-known star-gazing posture, with all the front part of the body extended upward in a curve, bringing the head so far back as to be elevated just over the eleventh segment, while the anterior legs were freely outspread, the third pair wider apart than the others; all the details of colour being similar to those of the previous stage. The fourth moult happened on the 9th—10th of June, and they soon resumed feeding, eating large PETASIA NUBECULOSA. 7 pieces out of the leaves at intervals, and at other times were to be seen for long periods hanging to the birch sprays motionless in their singular attitude of repose, but yet so suggestive of great muscular exertion and watchfulness. Their growth now seemed rapid, as in the course of three days they were observed, when in motion, to be an inch and three lines long, stout, and thickest behind, their colouring of the same light green as before, the upper surface bearing rather warty spots of bright yellow and slash-like streaks of the same yellow on the thoracic and posterior segments ; the anterior legs black, ringed with ochreous at the joints. Some individuals still bore the large roundish black spot above the foot of each ventral proleg, while others had only a black outline of it, or part of it. The fifth moult occurred between the 15th and 19th of June, and for a time after this operation the head was of rougher texture than heretofore, but gradually in three or four days it regained its glossiness. The larva did not now so often assume its posture of con- templative repose, but seemed more intent on its con- _ sumption of food, and in the shorter intervals of rest was to be seen lying quite at full length, orin a gentle curve, along the birch twigs, quite flat and lethargic, until almost full-fed ; but when this stage was reached, it was again frequently to be seen in its more charac- teristic position. When quite full-grown the larva was 2 inches in length and of thickness in proportion, with a very soft skin; the head full and rounded, with lobes slightly defined ; the body cylindrical, with plump segments deeply divided as far as the twelfth, and there tumid and humped with a slight dorsal ridge, then sloping, and tapering a little on the very long front part of the thirteenth and still more on the short anal flap, deep wrinkles subdividing only the thoracic third and fourth segments. The anterior legs rather small, but set on large pectoral muscular foundations ; the ventral and anal prolegs stout, with well-developed feet, and hooks to secure prehension and progression, 8 PETASIA NUBECULOSA. The colour of the head was now pale bluish-green, the upper lip whitish or else pale yellow, the mouth black, the back of a delicate pale yellowish-green, becoming paler and opaque from the thoracic segments to the twelfth, and blending gradually into a deeper brilliant yellowish transparent green on the sides and belly. The slightly raised spots were all of pale primrose- yellow, the dorsal series elongate-oval in shape, two on each segment, one beyond the other, in a broken line on the fifth to the eleventh inclusive; the other series of spots were of round shape, such as the trape- zoidally-arranged fours of the back, the subdorsal broken line of threes, the lateral single spot, and the single spot below each spiracle, which was itself white, tenderly outlined with black; a transverse series of four spots showed faintly on the fourth segment, a small tumid side streak of the same yellow was on the third, and another conspicuously larger and longer was on the fourth, slanting down obliquely forwards ; two spots were on the back of the twelfth segment, and behind them on the summit two much larger spots united to a tumid curved streak of yellow; a con- spicuous tumid side streak of similar yellow began behind the spiracle, tapering off on the margin of the anal flap. The anterior legs were bright red, and out- side each ventral proleg was a roundish ring of black, the feet being furnished with brown hooks. The pupa is a full inch in length, and 4% lines in width at the thickest part across the ends of the short wing-covers, the antenna-cases well deve- loped; the head and thorax smooth, the wing-covers most minutely roughened, also the upper portions of the abdominal rings ; the free segments of the abdomen are very deeply cut, and taper gradually towards the end, but with dissimilar outline on the ventral and dorsal surfaces ; the ventral becoming bluntly rounded, and the dorsal rising somewhat in a hump, from which springs the base of a prolonged stout spike, whose blunt extremity is furnished with two fine tapering PETASIA NUBECULOSA. 8) points bent downwards and curved like claws; the colour is a deep and dingy red during the first year, and in the second becomes a blackish-brown, bearing a slight purplish gloss. (W. B., 9, 4, 83; E.M.M. XIX, 271.) PERIDEA TREPIDA. Plate XXXVI, fig. 4. On the 26th of April, 1870, Mrs. Hutchinson kindly - sent me twelve eggs of trepida, which began to hatch May 11th, and were all out on the 12th. The egg is circular, convex above, flattened beneath, smooth; of a delicate bluish opaque white, which it retains to the last; the only shght change that occurs just a few days before hatching is that a small grey speck becomes indistinctly visible in the centre. The newly-hatched larvae were robust-looking little fellows, of a greenish-yellow colour, with black dots and hairs, the head and its lobes being outlined with black. Atthis early age, as soon as extruded from the ege, it assumes the posture in repose, which is so characteristic of this species through all its larval existence, its back forming a hollow curve with the head and tail erected free from the surface of the leaf to which it is attached. At its third moult its length was about five-eighths of an inch, it had then its characteristic stripes, viz. a double pale yellow dorsal and oblique side stripes on a green ground colour, from which the black dots had memappearcd. * * * .* (W. B., Note Book I, 136.) On the 25rd of May, 1882, I received two eggs laid on the wnderside of oak bark, set up in a wood to dry about a week before; these eggs were part of a batch so found bya son of Mr. W. R. Jeffrey, who sent them to me. The shape of the egg is hemispherical, that is, 10 PERIDEA TREPIDA. rounded above and with a flattened base attached to the bark, apparently smooth and of pure white surface, though when they came I could just see a faint light brownish spot showing through the top of the egg, the shell being otherwise quite opaque. They both hatched in the early morning of the 27th, and the shell could then be seen to be quite thick, of a bluish- green substance within, and externally with a layer of opaque white. The head of the young larva was remarkably large, the body tapering thence behind; in colour it was wholly of a light, rather olive- or ochreous-greenish ; anterior legs black and dots blackish, each dot. having a fine black hair. On the night of June 2nd they moulted the first time, and by the morning of the 3rd they were feeding quite through the leaf from the edge (previously they had eaten between the veins, skele- tonising the margin of the leaf). They were green in colour, with a streak of blackish behind, down each cheek to the mouth, the back rather deeper green with a darker dorsal line, and a faint yellowish subdorsal line; dots and hairs black. | On the 10th and 12th of June they moulted the second time, and in four days the slanting yellow streaks appeared on the sides as puffed slashes; the double dorsal, pale yellow lines, having between them a dark green central line, were suggestive of the future design, the subdorsal line yellow and very thin, the slanting side stripes faintly edged with dark red; on the head was a fine black streak down the middle of each lobe, and another down the back of each cheek. Both larvz moulted the third time on the 21st, and both for the fourth time on the 30th of June, and fed well the next day, but on the 3rd of July I found one was lying dead. The other became a fine thick fellow, brilhantly coloured, but by the 14th July it was becoming of a more dingy green, and the next day had spun itself up in a brownish cocoon between leaves of oak. (W. B., Note Book IV, 112.) ORGYIA ANTIQUA. 1] ORGYIA ANTIQUA. Plate XXXIX, fig. 1. Hees laid on a cocoon-like web upon a spray of Acacia dealbata, in the gardens of the Crystal Palace at Sydenham, sent me by Mr. George Thomson, March 18th, 1879. The eggs laid close and evenly together side by side. The egg is rounded, having near the top a slight rim, which swells out a little, the flat top having a central depression. Colour of the egg shining reddish-brown. These eggs never changed colour. They began to hatch June 21st, 1879, a few at a time. The newly-hatched larva was dark brown, with segments 5 to 8 darker brown, a paler. triangular spot on the back of the ninth, a darker brown spot on the twelfth ; the tubercles dark brown, one on either side of the front of the second segment longer than the others, with longish brown hairs, some longer than others. After its first moult it grew to a length of three- sixteenths of an inch, it had then a pale patch on the back of the fourth segment, which rather divided in front, encroaching a little on the third segment; another distinct pale patch was on the back of the ninth, and a palish dorsal spot on the back of the tenth and eleventh, and a transverse pale mark on the front of the thirteenth segment; a pale but rather interrupted subdorsal line was visible from the fifth, faintly to the ninth, and thence to the twelfth segment distinctly. By the 19th of July a great many had completed their third moult, and had now assumed the character- istic tufts of hairs hike shaving brushes on the back, on the fifth and sixth segments blackish, on the seventh and eighth whitish, and on the tenth and eleventh a pinkish tubercle, a longish tuft of black clubbed hairs on the twelfth, slanting backwards; on each side of the front of the second segment, at an angle laterally pointing forwards, a tuft or fascicle of longer hairs, i ORGYIA ANTIQUA. but of varying lengths, blackish-plumed and clubbed at their tips. By the 27th three or four had accomplished their fourth moult, with tufts of quite white hairs down their back; they were then three-quarters of an inch long. By the 19th of August they were full-grown, and 14 imches in length; the white brush-like hairs on the back tipped with brownish, the black hairs plumed and clubbed as before on each side of the second segment, and on the back of the twelfth; cream- coloured hairs radiated from the other tubercles, longer and more numerous on the lower rows along the sides ; ground colour of the body cool velvety-grey, a black velvet stripe down the back, more or less interrupted by the brushes and by brillant red tubercles, a black or blackish line followed on each side more or less distinct or broken; head shining black, upper lip pale creamy-white, mouth black; on segments 9, 10, 11 and 12 the black dorsal stripe was bordered with cream colour as a narrow stripe. In some individuals the ground colour was greyish- olive, and the red tubercles were outlined with cream colour. All the above died off nearly mature. I received some more eggs on the 9th April, 1880; they began to hatch May 14th.* I fed the young larvee with sallow. The first moult took place the 18th and 19th of May. These larve throve well on sallow, and the earliest began to spin their cocoons on the 17th and 18th of June. The moths began to appear on July 10th, when I bred two ¢ and two ¢; on the 13th appeared three ¢ and on the 17th one g. (W. B., Note Book IV, 1.) * The larve continued to hatch about two a day, sometimes three, but generally two until the 29th May, when there were twenty-one hatched, and I cast adrift the remaining eggs. OO a ae MILTOCHRISTA MINIATA. 13 MILTOCHRISTA MINIATA. Plate XL, fig. 3. Eggs were obtained from a female which had been captured July 18th, 1867. The larve were hatched before the end of the month, they fed slowly but almost continuously till the end of the following May, by which time six out of nineteen survived to spin up. The moths emerged between the 19th and 30th June, 1868. The food at first chosen was a sallow leaf, which had become damp and rotten by being kept in a glass- stoppered bottle; afterwards when placed out of doors in a flower-pot they ate withered oak and sallow leaves and various lichens; in the spring they nibbled the slices of turnips put in with them as traps for slugs, and at last settled down steadily to eat the red waxy tips of Lichen caninus, and fed up to quite full size on this food. In a state of nature | understand they are found feeding upon the lichens that grow on the boles of oak trees. The eges of miniata are very different from the usual round pearly beads of the Lithosiw, being more fusi- form in shape, rich yellow in colour, and placed on end with great regularity at a little distance from each other in rank and file. My batch of eges was deposited in four rows, viz. three of five eggs each, and one of four. The larve from the first were little dingy, foggy- looking fellows, with a quantity of fine hair on their backs, and although after the last moult their plumes became denser and darker than before, yet a descrip- tion of the last stage is applicable throughout. ~ When full-grown, the length is a trifle over half an inch, the hairs that project before and behind making it look a little longer; the figure stout, uniform in bulk; the skin very shining, but densely covered with plumes. Segments 2 and 13 are furnished only with 14 MILTOCHRISTA MINIATA. very short simple hairs, but the other seoments have each six whorls of wonderful plumose verticillate hairs, those on segments 3 to 7 being fully one-eighth of an inch high, and those on segments 8 to 12 a little shorter, while along the sides and just above the feet are tufts of plain hairs. When looking at one of them in motion, [ could not help mentally comparing it to an animated hearse with palish plumes. The colour of the skin, when it can be seen, is a waxy dark drab; the plumes from the head to segment 7 are blackish mouse colour, and the rest a paler tint of the same. When disturbed the larva bends into a circle, placing the two extremities together, with the tufts standing out apart. The cocoon is a long-oval in shape, very slight but close in texture, the silk wonderfully interwoven with the cast-off plumes stuck upright, so that whilst fresh and uninjured by rain it might at first sight be mis- taken for the larva; one which I watched in progress was completely finished, so far as outward appearance went, in twenty-four hours. The pupa is short, reddish-brown in colour, the cast larva skin adhering to the anal segments. (J. H., 5,9, 68; E.M.M. V, Tet LITHOSIA CANIOLA. Plate XL, fig. 4: A larva, feeding on olive-green house-top lichens, with a taste for clover, was secured for figuring by the kindness of Dr. Knaggs, on May 30th, 1862. Its head was dark brown, the body tapered a little at either extremity, the ground colour brown, a thin blackish dorsal line slightly widening in the middle of each segment, the subdorsal lines composed of cunei- form orange-red marks pointing backwards, and bor- dered laterally with similar marks of black, a whitish spot almost touching the point of each wedge ; the sides LITHOSIA CANIOLA. iD rather paler than the back, with a dusky lateral line; the tubercles studded with brown hairs. (W. B.; E.M.M. I, 49.) LITHOSIA AUREOLA. Plate XL, fig. 5. The larva was received on August 19th, feeding upon lichens attached to oak. This larva was very active in its habits ; 1t was not yet mature, being but little more than five-eighths of an inch in length, rather slender, and of nearly uniform thickness, but tapering very little posteriorly. The tubercles all tufted. The ground colour of the back was white, but this appeared only as four white lines separating the black dorsal, intermediate and broader subdorsal stripes ; and this pattern was interrupted at the fourth, eighth, and twelfth segments by dark brownish-black patches covering the back, and on the fourth and twelfth looking almost like humps from the greater denseness of the tufts of hair; and on the ninth segment the dorsal stripes were absent, leaving the whole area as a conspicuous whitish spot; the sides, belly, and legs were brownish-grey; the folds between segments 3 and 4 white; there was a white spot just above the legs on the third, and a white blotchy line similarly placed on the fourth. The second segment was dark brown, with a reddish margin in front, and a short longitudinal streak from it of the same tint on the subdorsal region. The dorsal tubercles of all but the three dark segments were orange-red, bearing brownish-grey hairs, the first of each dorsal pair being small in size and the second behind very large, so as to project beyond the subdorsal stripe, on which they were placed into the side, and behind each tubercle of this pair was a white dot; along the sides were two rows of similar tubercles, the lowest being just 16 LITHOSTA AURBEOLA. above the legs, thickly furnished with brownish-grey. hairs; a few hairs longer than the rest proceeded from the thoracic and anal segments; the head itself blackish-brown. This species spins up in the autumn and passes the winter in the pupa state. (J. H., 5,9, 68; H.M.M. W193.) LITHOSIA HELVOLA. Plate XL, fig. 6. On the 13th June, 1868, I received from Mr. Machin four larvee of this species, then not far from full-grown ; their food was a large coarse lichen growing on the bark of yew trees. In a few days they had spun rather loose cocoons, with a few grains of earth attached to the silk, on the underside of the pieces of bark. The moths appeared July 2nd to 6th. When full-grown, the larva is nearly three-quarters of an inch in length, moderately stout, with the posterior segments tapering slightly towards the tail; all the tubercles furnished with tufts of hair. The ground colour of the back varies—being pale grey, whitish-grey, or white, and the colour of the sides and belly is grey, brownish-grey, or greenish- grey ; there is a subdorsal stripe of black, separating the white back from the grey sides, and itself inter- rupted by one of the hinder pair of tubercles on the back of each segment ; down the centre of the back run two black lines, which represent the dorsal stripe, appearing united atthe hinder end of all the segments, as well as on the front of all, except the last four, and interrupted through the middle of the others; and and between these lines and the subdorsal stripe comes another fine black line on the hinder half of each seg- ment. On the fourth segment the space between the dorsal lines is filled up with black, forming a con- spicuous lozenge-shaped mark ; on the eighth segment LITHOSIA HELVOLA. 17 is another black mark, but triangular in outline; and on the ninth segment the subdorsal black stripe is interrupted by a white spot, which extends somewhat into the grey colour of the side, and along the side run two dark brownish interrupted lines; the head is dark brownish-grey, lobed and freckled with black ; the tubercles are grey or brownish-grey, and the tufts of hair growing from them are of the same tint. (J. mee, 9, 06; H.M.M, V, 112.) LITHOSIA STRAMINEOLA. Plate XLI, fig. 1. This insect, as previously recorded in the ‘ Zoologist,’ M. Guenée has pronounced to be a variety of L. griseola after comparing the figure of the larva with preserved skins of griseola in his possession. The larva was depicted June 24th, and the imago appeared July 30th. The larva was brown, the head of a darker brown, the back of the second, third, and anal segments orange-red, as though the subdorsal marks had become confluent ; a similar red mark, of an irregular trape- zoidal figure, formed the subdorsal line on the anterior two-thirds of each segment, a thin blackish line border- ing them externally, a thin dark brown dorsal line, interrupted on the second and third, and terminating on the twelfth segment, tubercles and hairs brown. (W. B.; E.M.M. I, 49.) From eggs of L. stramimeola kindly sent to me in August last by Mr. C. G. Barrett, I have lately suc- ceeded in rearing four perfect insects, one male and three females. Two of the females were yellow all over, one of them having its wing somewhat clouded with grey ; and the male was grey all over, in fact, a true griseola. The correctness, therefore, of M. Guenée’s opinion as to the identity of these two forms is completely established, and stramineola must take the position VOL. III. 2 18 LITHOSIA STRAMINEOLA. which he assigns to it, of being a variety of griseola. (J. H., 14, 7, 73; H.M.M. X, 69.) Two larve which had been reared from eggs, were received from the Rev. J. Hellins, April 29th, 1878, feeding on lichens; the smaller of the two sickening for its final moult. This larva was three-quarters of an inch long, rather stout in proportion ; the ground colour dark slaty pinkish-grey, very faintly marked along the sides with paler; the subdorsal marks of orange-ochreous were in front of each segment some- what of a triangular form, with the angles rounded off, pointing forwards; from these a thin faint streak of greyish-ochreous ran backwards to the end of the segment, but scarcely to be noticed till beyond the second tubercle, both tubercles interrupting it, the second much the largest; the dorsal stripe broad, faintly darker than the ground, which was itself blackish, but it was dull black at the beginning, and there was a black blotch on the side immediately in contact with the orange-ochreous mark, so that these marks looked as if on a short transverse black velvety band; on the back of the third segment was a conspicuous patch of orange-ochreous, another on the front division of the thirteenth segment; the former partly divided by a central black line, a little in front and more behind, where it bore a small blackish-brown hairy tubercle, on each side and more in front it was bounded by a large dark tubercle, which gave a lichen-like character to the form and colour of this patch. The same idea was suggested bythe hind patch of this ochreous colour, which was only partly divided by a black central line ; along the side there was an irregular stripe of a greyish flesh-colour, interrupted by the row of sub-spiracular tubercles, which was the middle of three rows along the side, the lowest row being almost on the upper part of the prolegs, and almost on the belly on the other segments. The head black and brilliantly polished, all the rest dull, either of a waxen or velvety appear- ance; all the ventral prolegs well developed, paler than LITHOSIA STRAMINEOLA. 19 the rest of the skin, and shining semi-transparent; the anterior legs similar in colour and texture. The colour of the hairs of a whity-brown, mixed with black. On the 4th of May the moult of this larva was com- plete, and on the 5th it had eaten up the cast skin entirely, hairs and all; the following day it was feeding freely on Lichen caninus. The imago appeared June 21st, 1873. (W.B., Note Book II, 7.) LITHOSIA COMPLANA. Plate XLI, fig. 2. I have also been indebted to Mr. Doubleday for a specimen of this larva, which throve well on lichens off fir-trees, and was nearly full-fed June 9th, 1862; the perfect insect appeared at the end of July. The colour of this larva was brown, with a very dark brown head and dorsal line. The subdorsal markings consisted of oblong, somewhat reniform, dull orange-red marks, one on the anterior half of each segment, followed by an interval of the ground colour, and succeeded by a whitish spot; the usual tubercles and hairs dark brown. (W. B.; E.M.M. I, 49.) The larva of this species has long been known, and descriptions of it have been published by many entomologists; our object, therefore, in introducing any remarks upon it in this paper, is not so much to describe it over again, as to say something about it with reference to the larva of L. molybdeola. Under the latter species will be found an account of two larve reared from the egg in 1867-68, of which very careful figures were also taken, with the view of using them for comparison when the larva of complana could be procured. And in this way they have been used both this last summer and the summer before, and the following particulars have been noted. In several points there exists between the larve of 20 LITHOSIA COMPLANA. complana and molybdeola the similarity which is also shown by their imagos; complana is rather the larger of the two, but there is in both the same figure, the same arrangement of tubercles, the same sort of hairs in the tufts ; in their colouring there is the same ground of dead blackish-grey, the brown tubercles and hairs, the velvety-black dorsal and lateral stripes, and the subdorsal row of parti-coloured orange-red and white spots. oe in the descriptions of complana we find these spots called oval ; ‘‘ taches ovales ’’ Guenée calls them ;* “‘taches arrondies ou un peu ovalaires,’ + says Boisduval; and, as far as we can gather from our friends who are accustomed to take the larva of com- plana in this country, they do not know of any other shape for these spots but oval or roundish ; 1 the two larvee of molybdeola mentioned above, these subdorsal spots had no roundness whatever in their shape, but were narrowish, oblong, somewhat wedge-shaped marks. Boisduval, in his account of complana, goes on to say, “ Hlle varie un peu pour la couleur et pour la forme des taches orangées; quelquefois celles-ci sont blanches sur tous leurs bords avec le centre orangé; d’autresfois il n’y aque la partie postérieure de chaque qui soit orangée. Souvent elles sont alongées ou un peu triangulaires, et semblent presque former, lorsque la chenille est en repos, deux raies non interrompues;” so that we must either give up the shape of these sub- dorsal spots as a point of difference, or else suppose that Boisduval had seen larve of molybdeola as well as of complana. In coming lower down the side, below the black lateral stripe, which comes next to the sub- dorsal spots, we reach another point; and here Bois- duval fails us, for he says nothing of the side of com plana, only that ‘les stigmates sont peu apparents,”’ and ‘le dessous du corps est grisatre,’’ and then he gives the colour of the legs. Guenée is much more * « Annales de la Société Entomologique de France,’ 1861, p. 50. + ‘Collection Iconographie et Historique des Chenilles.’ LITHOSIA COMPLANA. pl precise, ‘‘ La région latérale est plus pale”’ (than the ground colour), ‘‘ avec des linéaments noirs, marqués, a la place de la stigmatale, de traits fauves, isolés, trés fins ;”’ and other descriptions also speak of a reddish- yellow line running just above the feet. Now, the description of molybdeola (before referred to) does not help us much here, for it omits some particulars, the importance of which was not then seen; but the jigures show most distinctly that, while in complana the spiracular region is occupied by one broader rust- coloured line, in molybdeola there is first a fine line of pale grey, then a line of the ground colour, and then a narrower line of the rust colour; and unless the inspection of a larger number of larve of molybdeola can prove that this arrangement of lines is not permanent, we have in it a good distinctive character ; and perhaps anyone who could place the living larvee side by side for comparison, would on a careful exami- nation, find others equally good. (W. B. and J. H., 9,12, 71; H.M.M. VIII, 174.) LITHOSIA COMPLANULA. Plate XLI, fig. 3. Said to feed on lichens, though I have not found this the case with the few I have reared; the first I had fed on oak; others were taken on buckthorn and dogwood, and this season one on Clematis. The larva is of nearly uniform thickness ; its colour above is a very dark bluish-grey; the head, plate on the second segment, broad dorsal line and subdorsal lines black ; the body furnished with black tubercles and hairs, excepting an orange, lateral stripe beginning at the fifth and ending on the twelfth segments, which encloses the spiracles and extends to the prolegs; the tubercles and hairs on the latter being also orange colour. (W.B.; E.M.M. I, 49.) 22 LITHOSIA COMPLANULA. T will only remark that the larva of this species assumes its lateral reddish-orange stripe at its first or second moult, when but little over a line in length ; also that it seems to feed and grow more slowly than the other species. (J. H., 5, 9, 68; E.M.M. V, 111.) LITHOSIA MOLYBDEOLA. Plate XLI, fig. 4. Mr. Doubleday most kindly transmitted to me some eggs he had received of this species, and by the time the parcel reached me (July 26th, 1867) the young larvee had appeared. Most of the brood must have soon perished, but the three which lived till September were then about half an inch long, and the two final survivors spun up before the end of May, and appeared as moths on July 3rd and 4th, 1868. I could never see that they ate any food I gave them freely, but at different times I saw that they had eaten a little of various lichens from trees or banks, wall moss, withered sallow and oak leaves, slices of turnip and carrot, knot-grass, and they must have thriven as well as they would have if they had been at large, for the two bred moths were not at all smaller than captured specimens. I noticed, not in this species only, but in all the Lithoside larve I had, that the characteristic markings and tints were assumed very early—long before they had attained a quarter of their growth. When full- crown this larva is rather more than three-quarters of an inch in length, moderately stout, uniform in bulk; head very hardand shining ; all the tubercles crowned with tufts of short hairs, mixed with a few longer ones; of the dorsal tubercles the front pair are small, and the hinder pair very large. The ground colour, when seen between the tufts of hair, is a dead blackish-grey ; but the segmental folds iP =) ea PE 6 ae — So fo-at = ~ LITHOSIA MOLYBDKEOLA. Ze are black ; there is a rich velvety, very black, dorsal stripe; the subdorsal line, being broken on’ each segment by the hinder tubercle with its tuft of hair, must be rather called a row of elongated, parti- coloured spots, each beginning on the hinder part of a segment, and continued across the fold into the next segment, until stopped by the tubercle; the colours being white for about half the spot, and the tint of a robin’s red breast for the remainder, but owing to the position of the white portion so near the segmental fold, only the red hinder part of the spot is to be seen except when the larva is stretched out in walking. On segments 2 to 4 these spots are alto- gether whitish. Immediately below comes another velvety black stripe, broadest at the centre of the body, and tapering considerably towards the head, but less so towards the tail; just above the feet comes a greyish-ochreous interrupted stripe, edged on both sides with a dark brown line; the tubercles and short hairs are brown, the longer ones black. The pupa stout, reddish-brown in colour; enclosed in a very slight web of silk, under cover of a stone or piece of moss. (J. H., 5, 9, 68; H.M.M. V, 109.) LITHOSIA GRISEOLA. Plate XLI, fig. 5. Mr. Doubleday kindly sent me eggs on the 11th August, 1867, from which the larve hatched on the 15th of August. By the end of November the larve were nearly half an inch in length and were full-grown during May. The moths appeared from June 14th to 27th, 1868. _ The larvee fed at first on withered leaves, especially delighting to riddle decaying sallow leaves full of holes ; but I saw them also eat a little clover, knot-grass, and various lichens and mosses. Early in the spring they 9A LITHOSIA GRISEOLA. attacked vigorously some slices of turnip, but after- wards, on attaining some size, they fed away steadily on Lichen caninus, which I have since learnt had been noticed to occur where the moth is most abundant, and no doubt forms part of the natural food of the larva. When full grown the length is quite an inch, the figure stout and uniform; the head small; all the tubercles tufted with stiff hairs, which are short on the back and longer on the sides, with a few of extra length on the second and thirteenth segments. The colour is a rich velvety blackish tint above, dingy blackish-brown below; the central portion of the back can, however, be distinguished as a stripe of — more intense black than the rest; there 1s a subdorsal orange-ochreous stripe, which being interrupted by the tubercles appears on segments 4 to 12 as a row of wedge-shaped marks; but on the second segment there is no interruption, and on the third the whole dorsal area is occupied by a large orange patch, bisected for a part of its length by the deep black dorsal line; and on the thirteenth the subdorsal wedges are replaced by two large squarish marks; the hairs are dark brown; the head a most brilliant black. Some of the larve had the orange marks very faint indeed, and two of them had no orange marks at all except on segments 2, 3, and 13, thus presenting a good variety. The pupa short, stout, reddish-brown in colour, the anal seements still enveloped in the cast larva skin (I notice this to be the case with the other species also), enclosed in a thin web, in which bits of moss and lichen were sometimes interwoven, and placed under any protecting cover, such as a stone. The moths I bred were very fine, much larger than any I ever captured, and although varying somewhat among themselves in the depth of their grey tints, yet none of them were at all like stramineola. (J. H., 9,68; E.M.M. V, 110.) LITHOSIA PYGMOLA. Day LITHOSIA PYGMOLA. Plate XLI, fig. 6. On the 7th of June, 1862, Mr. Doubleday kindly sent me the larva of this species. ! It was said to feed on lichens growing amongst moss, but lived only a few days, as I could not find any such lichen as the small portion of food which accompanied it, and which had a very pungent saline odour; it refused all other kinds of lichen and so starved. It was short and rather thick, tapering a little posteriorly ; brown on the back, with a thick black dorsal line; the subdorsal lines dark brown, and the sides rather paler brown, with a dirty-white line along the spiracles ; the tubercles with short brown hairs, and the head black. (W. B.; H.M.M. I, 48.) On the 10th of August, 1878, I received from Mr. W. H. Tugwell a good number of eggs of this species and a supply of the two species of lichen, on which the larvee are known to feed. The eggs were all laid loose. The shape of the egg is globular seen from above, but having a considerable depression beneath, appa- rently of a smooth surface, but really pitted so very minutely that even with a strong lens this character is scarcely appreciable. ‘The colour is a very pale salmon or flesh-colour and very glossy. Without under- going any further change they began to hatch on the evening of August 15th, and by the next morning about twenty were hatched; these and the remaining egos were then placed on two pots of lichens. The newly-hatched larva is very much the colour of the egg; it is rather stout, the head broad and large, brown on the crown, whitish in front above the mouth, which is brown; there are faint internal sub- dorsal lines of a brownish flesh-colour, extending as far behind as the tenth segment on which they are 96 LITHOSIA PYGM#OLA. most distinct, and there unite across the back; a faintly darkish tinge of the same colour runs along the back from the head; the three hinder segments are almost colourless; the body is clothed with long whitish hairs. When eight days old they had become of a light greenish-drab colour and seemed of a wandering dis- position, as I found several on the outside of the pots. After hybernation the larves were nowhere to be seen. Another batch of eggs was received from Mr. Tug- well on the 21st August, 1879, just similar to the above; on the 30th they became more transparent and showed the embryo rather plainly through the shell as a dark grey spot. (W. B., Note Book III, 250.) LITHOSIA MUSCERDA. Plate XLI, fig. 7. EKges were received from Mr. Barrett on July 30th, 1870, and larve hatched on August 3rd. To these the same treatment and food was given as had already been tried with the larvee of Nudaria senew (see p. 37). They hybernated small, when about one-fifth of an inch long; three were seen alive and feeding in February, 1871, these moulted at the end of March ; two were then accidentally lost; the survivor moulted for the last time on May 6th, and was full-fed about the end of that month; it spun a cocoon, but had not strength to become a pupa. Probably the right food for this larva is some sort of lichen growing on the sallow bushes in the soaking wet parts of the fens, where the moth occurs; Mr. Barrett noticed that it affects these bushes far more than any other kind of growth in the fens, and he observed that it is on the wing from early dusk till darkness sets in, when it disappears until midnight, LITHOSIA MUSCERDA. Ard after which hour it has another short flight; and probably there is a third flight in the morning dusk. The egg was noted as small and shining. The young larva is of a dirty whitish colour, with black head, the tubercles furnished with single, stiff, dark hairs. When the larva is about one-fifth of an inch long the tubercles are shining black, and furnished with tufts of short hairs, the head shining black, the general colour of the body and hairs dull black, dorsal line and segmental folds velvety-black, a pair of dull orange spots onthe second segment. ‘This appearance continued up to the last moult; after that had taken place for an hour or two the colouring was very striking; the head was shining white, and while the tufts on the first segment and down the centre of the back were darkish brown, all the others were bright, hight reddish-brown; but this gay dress was sobered down again. The length of the full-grown larva is about three quarters of an inch, the figure rather stout, cylindrical, tapering only at the second segment and head, and again at the thirteenth; the legs well developed; eight tubercles on each segment raised and tufted, the front dorsal pair being only moderately large, but the hind pair much enlarged and transversely oval in shape ; on segments 3 and 4 the front pair are larger than the hinder pair; all these tubercles thickly set with very short hairs. The general colouring is rusty black, the ground colour of the body being velvety blackish-brown, marbled with reddish-grey, the dorsal stripe and subdorsal line deep velvety-black ; on each side of the dorsal line on the second segment, and again on the front of the thirteenth, is a squarish, dull, deep red spot; head shining black; tubercles and hairs all deep brown; each front pair of tubercles set in reddish-grey rings. There is a fine reddish-grey, interrupted subspiracular line ; the belly pinkish-grey ; all the legs shining, dark reddish-grey ; tips of prolegs pellucid. 98 LITHOSIA MUSCERDA. The larva retired into a curled-up bramble leaf, and there formed a thin, webby cocoon of greyish silk, outside which was a finer and thinner web of white silk. (W. B. and J. H., 9, 12, 71; HME 173.) A larva received from the Rev. J. Hellins in 1871 (date not given) was three-quarters of an inch long, cylindrical, of tolerably uniform bulk, only the second and thirteenth segments tapering ; the head smaller than the second segment; the legs and prolegs well developed. The warty tubercles in high relief in pairs, on each seoment down the back; the first pair moderately small, the second pair very large and swollen, trans- versely oval; two rows of tubercles along the sides, i.e. one in each row on each segment; across the third and fourth segments the tubercles on the back in pairs, the largest in front, and the smallest partly behind it in an oblique direction. The head is of a briliant shining black; the body a velvety blackish-brown, the dorsal and subdorsal stripes deep black; the ground colour between them is marbled with reddish-grey, and there 1s a fine, in- terrupted, reddish-grey, subspiracular line; the tuber- cles are deep brown, thickly beset with radiating hairs of the same colour; the front pairs of small tubercles are set in rimegs of reddish-grey. On the second segment on each side of the dorsal stripe and on the anterior portion of the thirteenth segment on each side of the dorsal line, there is a squarish deep dull red spot. The belly pinkish-grey. The legs and prolegs dark reddish-grey and shining, the tips of the latter pellucid. This larva died after spinning its web, but another in 1874 produced the moth June 24th. (W. B., Note Book I, 78.) (BNISTIS QUADRA. 29 CHINISTIS QUADRA. Plate XLII, fig. 1. On the 30th of July, 1872, Mr. W. H. Harwood kindly sent me eggs of this species, laid close together on the side of a chip box; and he supplemented his gift by a few more, which came from a correspondent of his on the 8th of August, laid in clusters; in both Instances some of the larve were hatched in transit, and all of them were out by the 13th. The egg is hemispherical, most minutely pitted on its surface; of a rather glaucous bright green colour, _ turning olive, and again dark brown just before hatch- ing; a large hole is eaten by the escaping larva in the upper part of the shell, which looks quite white when empty. The young larva for a day or two is rather gelatinous looking, of a dirty whitish tint, but soon acquiring an internal pinkish tinge, showing a brown streak within the thoracic segments, the head being dark brown, and the body bearing some rather long, dirty whitish hairs. In about ten days the first moult takes place, when, as is the case with other species of Lithosie, so much of the characteristic marking and colouring of the mature larva is assumed, as suffices, even then, to distinguish it from its congeners; the whole larva now becomes tougher in texture, and the back becomes yellowish, prettily outlined with black, and with an interrupting spot on the eighth segment. Unfortunately, I cannot give an account of the appearance during hibernation; both the young larve referred to above, and those also which on two other occasions I received from other friends, having died whilst no more than a quarter of an inch in length. However, I think that the smallest of the three I am now about to describe had, when first sent to me, scarcely increased in bulk since hibernation. Mr. Harwood, still most kindly mindful to help me 30 (BNISTIS QUADRA. with this species, sent me three young larve of varying size, which he had beaten from oak trees near Col- chester, and at St. Osyth, on the 10th, 16th, and 17th of June, 1873. These were kept separate, and their progress was as follows :—No. 1, June 11th; length three-quarters of an inch, moulted 19th, increased to one and three- eighths of an inch, spun up July lst; imago 21st, a male. No. 2, June 18th; length five-eighths of an inch, moulted 21st, increased to three-quarters of an inch, moulted 30th, increased to one and three-eighths of an inch, spun up July 12th; imago August 2nd, a male. No. 3, June 18th; length half an inch, increased to five-eighths of an inch, moulted 24th, in- creased to three-quarters of an inch, moulted July 3rd, increased to nearly one inch, moulted July 14th, increased to one and a half inches or a little more, spun up 27th ; imago August 14th, a female. Hach of these larve, on arrival, possessed all the characters and colours that distinguished them through their changes of skin to the adult state presently to be described. The food supplied to them consisted of various lichens from oak trees, and at first a few leaves also, as I noticed the oak leaves that were sent to me with each larva had been nibbled a little on the journey; I also gave them Lichen caninus, for which they soon showed such a decided preference that it became almost their only nourishment; when disturbed, they were very lively and active, running quickly over any surface, yet clinging with a firm foot-hold when they chose. Altogether, a great quantity of food was devoured by them, and at times they seemed to eat quite voraciously, always on the dark cuticle of the lichen, not seeming to care for the pale fleshy sub- stance beneath. When about to moult, the colours became less vivid, and the details less distinct; at such times the larva would leave its food for the leno cover of its cage, and there spin a patch of silk, and fix itself upon it; then GNISTIS QUADRA. al there seemed to ensue some operation of denuding itself of most of its hairs; but this process I was in every instance unable to witness, it being always effected during the night, generally the first night after the larva had taken its position on the silk ; most of the hairs left remaining were on the second and third seoments; nearly all the others appeared to have been bitten off close to the skin, excepting some few mere stumps of various lengths left along the sides. The actual moult would take place either on the first, second, or third night after this loss of hair, the mini- mum time with the smallest, the maximum with the largest larva; after moulting, the first meal was evi- dently made on the cast skin, as no trace of it could be found beyond the head piece, except in one instance, when a small fragment of skin remained. This break- fast on its old skin by a hairy larva was to me very surprising; it seemed, however, to act beneficially, for the next meal on lichen would be a hearty one. I found that after each larva had attained its greatest length, it began gradually to shorten for three or four days before spinning its cocoon, although still occa- sionally feeding, sometimes even ravenously, during this period. The full grown larva, as I have said, varied from one and three-eighths of an inch to nearly one and five-eighths of an inch in length; was moderately stout in proportion, somewhat cylindrical in figure, tapered a little from the fourth segment to the head, also from the eleventh to the anal extremity; the thoracic segments deeply wrinkled, the others plump and separated by well-defined divisions; the ventral prolegs long and well-developed, the anal prolegs long and extended behind beyond the end of the body ; each seoment with five prominent wart-like tubercles on either side, forming through the length of the body as many longitudinal rows; the two upper rows nearly close together along the subdorsal region, the others at equal distances along the sides, the lowest almost oe (ENISTIS QUADRA. on the belly, all of them thickly furnished with long radiating hairs curved a little upwards at their tips. The head is black and lustrous, the ground colour of the back a bright primrose yellow, which appears , but little on the second segment, being there merely an edging and fine dorsal division to a blackish-grey mark ; this yellow isa little more seen on the third and fourth segments, where the large pairs of tubercles in front are black, the smaller ones behind them bright orange, the space between these on the fourth segment trans- versely barred with black, which more or less tinges the dorsal stripe, and produces a conspicuous central triangular or cruciform black spot; the complex broad dorsal marking widens a little (diamond-hke) on the middle of each following segment, and 1s composed of a fine broken grey outline, followed within by a line- like interval of the yellow ground, and then with freckles of bluish-grey edged with darker grey, and having a middle delicate thread-like interval of the yellow; near the subdorsal region, run double fine broken lines of grey freckles, which on the front of the fourth segment are absent, but only interrupted ~ on each of the other segments as they approach the bright orange tubercles placed in twos, 1. e. a very small roundish one in front, and a large one trans- versely oval just behind it.* Besides the thoracic black tubercles, mentioned, others occur on the eighth, twelfth, and thirteenth segments, as follows :—The small front tubercles on the eighth are black, and just there the dorsal region is also more or less black, together forming a conspicuous trilobed spot ; on the twelfth is a greater suffusion of the black, in which both large and small tubercles are dyed; the tubercles on the front of the thirteenth segment are also black, the anal flap is dark brownish-grey, blotched with blackish and sparingly freckled with yellow; the yellow ground of the back is very effectively relieved * In the females these tubercles are deep orange-red, and the dorsal markings more decidedly of a diamond shape on each segment.—W. B. (ENISTIS QUADRA. ao by the broad subdorsal velvety-black stripe, on which the larger orange tubercles encroach. It has a very broken thread of yellow dots along the middle, and is margined below with a fine line of yellow, with another more interrupted beneath it ; thence the ground colours of the side are dark reddish-grey, paler yellowish-grey nearer to the spiracular region, and darker brownish- grey below, including the semi-transparent ventral and anal prolegs with their brown hooks. The spiracular region is edged above and below at the segmental divisions with pale yellow; all the lateral tubercles are longitudinally oval and dark brownish-grey, each of the uppermost ones placed on a blackish crescentic blotch delicately edged with pale yellow; the belly dark greenish-grey, with a yellowish interrupted stripe on each side close to the prolegs; the hairs which hide the spiracles are chiefly grey, or slightly mixed with a few black ones on the sides, but those proceeding from the few dorsal black tubercles are blackish, and all are glossy. In one larva the lowest hairs along the sides were whity-brown, the next row above grey, and the upper rows darker grey mixed with black. The pupal change, in one instance, occurred on the fourth day after the commencement of the cocoon, which was spun against the side of its cage, and in junction with the leno cover of it, and was formed of a large gossamer web of a roundish figure, about two by one and a half inches, of a darkish grey colour, and haying the larval hairs interwoven; inside this outer web was a hammock of a finer-textured silk, held in Suspension by fine threads at intervals in connection with the outer fabric. The pupa within the hammock lay belly upwards, and was eight lines in length, two and a half lines broad, almost uniform in size through- out, the head rounded, and only the last two seements tapered to the blunt and rounded tip; the surface smooth, quite black, and highly polished; the old larval skin lying detached behind it. (W. B., 7, 2, 74; H.M.M. X, 217.) VOL. III. D 34 GNOPHRIA RUBRICOLLIS. GNOPHRIA RUBRICOLLIS. Plate XLII, fig. 2. A tolerably abundant larva in beech woods during September and October, feeding on the tree lichens. I also found it once swarming on a lichen-covered park paling, and reared a large number of the perfect insects, which appeared during the month of May. The larva is rather elongate, tapering posteriorly ; head blackish, body greyish and freckled with yellow, a fine thread of whitish, bordered with grey, forms the dorsal line, which is white on the second segment, the subdorsal is a black line on the second, third, and fourth segments, and on the remainder becomes an elongated black trapezoidal mark on the anterior two-thirds of each, and terminates on the twelfth. The ground colour of the back on each side of the dorsal line of the seventh, eighth, ninth, and tenth segments is whitish ; the sides mottled with greenish-yellow and orey ; tubercles hairy. (W.B.; H.M.M. I, 49.) CYBOSIA MESOMELLA. Plate XLIT, fig. 3. On two or three previous occasions, I kept a larva or two alive from summer till after Christmas, having fed them on sallow leaves, green or decaying ; and last spring I managed to retain one even until the new sallow leaves were out again, but it would not resume feeding after hibernation, and so died; it was then quite half an inch in length; in colour a velvety-black all over, and covered on every segment, save the head and second, with tufts of singular spatulate dark grey hairs. I should much like to procure some sort of food on which this species would feed up, for they would never take to any sort of lichen I gave them. (J. H., 5, 9,65; EH. M. M. V, 111.) — ee ee CYBOSIA MESOMELLA. 39 On May 5th and 25th, 1871, larve were received from Mr. Harwood, which had been found on the trunks of oak trees, feeding on a pale lichen growing intermixed with moss, but not sufficiently developed in its growth to enable us to make sure of its name. These larve soon spun up, and the moths, extremely fine examples, were bred on June 9th and 18th. The full-grown larva is nearly an inch long, figure moderately stout, and tapering only at the head and second segment, and at the thirteenth segment. On each segment behind the second are eight raised tuber- cles densely tufted; the colour of the body is deep velvety slaty-blackish ; the head shining black; a deep velvety-black patch on the second segment; the ante- rior legs shining black, the ventral prolegs pellucid, pale greyish, tipped with black; the second segment bears only simple black hairs, and similar hairs are found along the sides of the other segments just above the legs; but the tufts on their upper parts are com- posed of black hairs so densely feathered that they catch the light and receive quite a greyish effect from their peculiar softness, and almost entirely hide the skin beneath. In this peculiar featheriness of the larval clothing, this species comes so close to Miltochrista miniata, that it might well stand in the same genus with it; and it seems no improvement on the arrange- ment of Doubleday’s List, in which they do actually stand close together, though in different genera, to separate them, as Staudinger has done, by the insertion of wrrorella and others between them. The stout pale brown pupa is enclosed in a com- paratively large cocoon, formed of semi-transparent, thin, greyish silk web, spun in any convenient hollow under the moss or lichen. (W. B. and J. H., 9, 12, 71; E.M.M. VIII, 172.) 36 PHILEA IRRORELLA. PHILEA IRRORELLA. Plate XLII, fig. 4. On July 30th, 1865, some eggs were received from Dr. Knagegs, and noted as globular, pearly in texture, clear purplish-brown in colour. The larve hatched August 13th, but no note of them was taken, and they must soon have perished for want of the proper food and treatment. There is no doubt, however, that in their natural habitat they must hybernate when small and feed up in the early summer. On May 24th, 1867, after considerable search, a number were found, then approaching full growth, on the Sussex coast. The food is a blackish-brown lichen, growing on stones above high-water mark, and in some cases mixed with a yellow lichen, a fact of much interest when the colouring of the larva is con- sidered. ‘The larva seems fond of sunshine, moving about in it slowly over the stones; when about to moult it protects itself by spinning overhead a number of silken threads, under cover of which it remains until the moult is completed. The moths were bred early in July. When the larva is full grown its length is about six- eighths of an inch, the figure proportionate, mode- rately stout, tapering a little from the fourth segment to the head, and again at the thirteenth; six raised tubercles on each segment studded with longish hairs ; the ground colour blackish-brown above, and dark reddish-grey or purplish-grey on the sides; belly and legs reddish. The dorsal stripe takes the form of a series of deep, brilliant yellow, acorn-shaped marks, the acorns pointing backwards, and so placed that the segmental folds mark the separation between the cup and the fruit; the paler and duller yellow subdorsal line much interrupted; the spiracular stripe of bright yellow also much interrupted; the raised tubercles blackish; the hairs blackish-brown; the ground on PHILEA IRRORELLA. By the back, and the lower part of the sides, minutely freckled with yellow; the inconspicuous spiracles dirty white, ringed with black. The short, stoutish pupa, placed in a cocoon of thin webby silk, spun amongst the stones and débris. ove. and J. H., 9,12, 71; E.M.M. VIII, 171.) NupDARIA MUNDANA. Plate XLII, fig. 1. The full-grown larva was received from Dr. White on the 3lst of May, 1869, it having been captured feeding on lichens on an old stone wall. Its length three-eighths of an inch, its figure rather stout in proportion, uniform in bulk throughout ; the legs all well developed; six raised tubercles on each seoment bearing long straggling fine hairs; the ground colour of the back bright sulphur-yellow ; the dorsal stripe dark greyish-brown ; a blackish dorsal spot on the eighth segment; the subdorsal line black- ish-brown, the whole body below this, including the legs, of asemi-translucent, pale greyish-brown ; all the tubercles and hairs rather dark greyish-brown; the meaa dark brown. (W. B. and J. H., 9, 12, 71; H.M.M. VIII, 171.) NUDARIA SENEX. Plate XLIII, fig. 2. Hggs were received from Mr. Birks on July 18th, 1870; the larve hatched on the 21st; they fed on decayed sallow and bramble leaves, on the young growth of Hypnum sericewm and Weissia cirrata, and on Lichen caninus. The larve hybernated ; the last moult took place early in May, 1871, and the larva was full-fed about the beginning of June; the imago appeared on the 23rd of June. 38 NUDARIA SENEX. Mr. Birks described the locality in which the moths were captured by him as a swamp very rich in plants, and he found them either hovering over tufts of low herbage and coarse grass, or resting on the blades and stems of the grass or reeds. He could see no lichens, except on the trunks of the trees growing there, and he never noticed the moths haunting these, as we might suppose they sometimes would, if they deposited their egos on them. Possibly the food may be some lichen erowing under the herbage on the damp ground. The female while laying her eggs mixes with them fluff from a tuft at her tail, which she detaches by means of her two hinder feet ; and the way in which the fine plumes from this tuft adhere to the eggs makes it rather hard to describe them. The larve, when hatched, were placed in a flower- pot with growing moss and lichen and straightway hid themselves ; nothing more was seen of them till the solitary survivor of the whole brood was detected feeding early in May. Probably the rest were destroyed, while yet tender, by the small slugs and snails that infest lchens, and cannot be got rid of except by picking the latter to pieces ; small centipedes also hide themselves away craftily, and no doubt do mischief. The egg is small, globular in shape, but so soft that the outline is not at all regular, the shell shining, — covered with faint irregular reticulations, yellowish in colour. The young larva is pale grey, with a central olive stripe down the back, and with five or six long, pale orey hairs from each tubercle. Just before the last moult, the whole larva has a waxen, dull, smoky appear- ance; the tubercles raised and studded with tufts, formed of short smoky hairs, mixed with a few feathered plumes. When full grown the length is three-eighths of an inch, the figure very stout in pro- portion ; the tufts so dense that the skin cannot be well seen, except when the larva curls itself up, and then it is seen at the segmental divisions—waxen- -NUDARIA SENEX. 89 looking, and of a deep reddish-grey colour; the head shining black, the anterior legs glossy, tipped with black, the ventral prolegs translucent, in colour pale grey ; the tuft-bearing tubercles are six in number on each segment; the tufts on the second segment are com- posed of single dark brown hairs, but the other tufts are much denser, and formed of two sorts of hairs, the more numerous being pale brown stiff hairs, with sharp black points, and being sparsely barbed or feathered ; the others, fewer in number, are taller, with black stems, and densely feathered all round with soft, pale brown plumage. The cocoon was of an oval form, about four lines in leneth, formed of close-spun silk and attached to the cover of the box in which the larva was confined ; the hairs of the coat were all woven in, giving the cocoon a brown colour and rough texture. The pupa skin, examined after the exit of the moth, was about one quarter of an inch in length, highly polished, of a rich deep brown colour, the segmental divisions showing as pale reddish rings. (W. B. and J. H., 9,12, 71; E.M.M. VIII, 171.) Noa STRIGULA. Plate XLIII, fig. 4. I am indebted to the unvarying kindness of Mr. W. H. Harwood, of Colchester, for valuable information concerning the habits of this pretty species, and for opportunities of studying and describing its larva, examples of which I received from him on June 15th, 1869, and on June 8th, 1871. These larve fed on oak, principally on the under cuticle of the leaves, and when full-fed, spun up in small boat-shaped cocoons of silk, about five-sixteenths of an inch in length, assimilating perfectly in colour to the surrounding surface of the bark on which they AO NOLA STRIGULA. were constructed,—a circumstance which rendered their detection very difficult. After the escape of the moths, which took place some time about the middle of July, the cocoons still retained their form and appearance. For the sake of close examination, one individual was kept without bark until too late for its spinning a perfect cocoon, and at last it attached itself to the underside of a leaf by the tail amongst a few threads, and there pupated much after the manner of an EHphyra. The full-grown larva is but little more than three- eighths of an inch in length; its body is rather stout in proportion, thickest at the third and fourth seg- ments, and tapered a little from the seventh to the anal extremity; the head is full and rounded, but of less bulk than the second segment; the body is rounded on the back and sides, and rather flattened beneath. It has three longitudinal rows of prominent wart-like tubercles on each side, 7. e. six on each seg- ment, bearing fascicles of radiating hairs. It has fourteen legs, the first ventral pair situated at the eighth segment. The colour of the body is pale buff, sometimes partaking of a flesh tint ; the dorsal stripe is yellowish or whitish flesh colour, very broad, and well-defined by a fine border line of brownish-grey ; the subdorsal line is brownish-grey, but interrupted at the segmental divisions; all the tubercles are broadly ringed with this colour. A conspicuous blackish-grey blotch covers the back of the seventh segment and extends from one. subdorsal line to the other; there are indications of other blotches of the same colour on the tenth and eleventh segments, but these are cut in twain by the broad, clear, pale dorsal stripe travelling through and separating them into a narrow dark mark on each side of the back. The sides are flesh-colour, the spiracles are entirely hidden from observation by the numerous hairs which diverge near them from the tubercles ; NOLA STRIGULA. Ay the ventral surface is pale flesh-colour and naked ; the head is blackish-grey, the lobes narrowly margined in front with pale flesh-colour. The hairs of the tubercles on the anterior segments are pale brown mixed with a few of dark grey, and some few of them in front of the second segment, and especially on the third, are very long; the tubercles on the rest of the body are furnished with hairs of a paler yellowish colour; on the back of the anterior part of the anal segment, issuing from each side, are a few hairs of extra length, which converge and taper on each side to a fine point directed outwards in a slightly downward curve, so that these two fine points of hair resemble a forked tail. The pupa is four lines long, including the cast larva skin adhering to its tail; it is not very stout, of ordi- nary shape, though the wing-cases are long in propor- tion ; these last are reddish-brown in colour, the other parts very dark brown and without much polish. W. payee. MIX, 15. (W.B., 5, 72; H.M.M. IX, 15.) Nowa ALBULALIS. Plate XLITI, fig. 5. Six larva were sent to me by the Rev. J. Hellins, who had them. from Mr. Platt Barrett; they arrived on June 20th. ‘They were feeding on the leaves of the dewberry (fubus cesius), fearless little fellows, caring nothing for being tumbled about, so long as they were not deprived of the leaf on which they happened to be feeding. The full-grown larve were over half an inch in length and stout in proportion; when stretched out in crawling they attained a length of five-eighths of an inch. They had six rows of round projecting tubercles, the lowest row just above the legs standing on thick basal stalks projected more than the others; each of 42, NOLA ALBULALIS. these tubercles (six on a segment) bore little fascicles of hairs, the central hairs considerably longer than the others, that is, generally one or two on each tubercle excessively long; each segment was in itself plump and well defined, and with one transverse subdividing wrinkle very close to the segmental division. In colour some were of an almost ivory whiteness, some of a pale flesh tint, others, again, of a bright pinkish-orange colour; in all there were twin dorsal light greyish lines and velvety black subdorsal marks, or blunt wedge-shaped spots in some commencing on the seventh segment and ending on the eleventh. In one instance the lobes of the shining flesh- coloured head were marked with brown, and the plate on the second segment was brown, divided dorsally with the ground colour, the subdorsal black marks commencing faintly and small on segments 4 and 5, stronger on 5, and still stronger on 7, as a right-angled mark, thick at the angle, which extended across the back as far as the dorsal lines, the tubercles on this seoment only being rose-pink. The right-angled black marks were continued, but rather thinner, on segments 8, 9, 10, and on 11, where they end; they are even thicker on the eleventh than on the seventh, thus forming nearly a bar of black across the beginning of the segment; the legs brown, the ventral prolegs tipped with brown, the fascicles of short hairs whitish, the longer hairs dark brown. The dorsal pair of tubercles on the eighth, ninth, and tenth segments finely outlined in part with black. This last individual I watched at intervals con- structing its curious cocoon, which is made on a dry grass stem of the thickness of a duck-quill; it com- menced by gnawing in a line downwards at the longi- tudinal fibrous exterior of the stem, loosening it in a long thread, then another and another thread, and so on in succession until a great number of small threads were loosened of the length of nearly an inch, but not detached as yet. This gnawing was patiently and NOLA ALBULALIS. 43 persistently continued round the stem, excepting only at that part which was intended to become enclosed. On this part the larva at length took up its position, and turning its head on one side, began to lay a glutinous secretion and detach and fasten upon it a short length of the previously loosened fibre, one length after another, longitudinally and parallel, and so continued to raise on either side of it structures much resembling a pair of wings (one on either side), concave within and tapered nearly to a point at the stem at each of their ends, the larva appearing to gum over the surface from which it removed the fibres. On the night of June 29th I left it engaged in loosening some fibres near three-eighths of an inch above the top of the wing-like structures, its body behind resting within them; the next morning the larva had wholly retired within the two wings, and having drawn their edges together with silk, they united formed a somewhat fusiform cocoon much after the fashion of that of an Anthrocera. The larva when I saw it was engaged in filling up a few interstices at the junction with silk, some of the long dark hairs of the body being interwoven ; but I could for some time plainly see through them the head of the larva at work, indeed, till 11 a.m., when they were all so thickly spun up as to prevent me from further watch- ing, and only a slow and gentle intermittent throbbing of the cocoon proved that the occupant was still busy at work within; the assimilation to the stem itself in colour and texture was remarkable. The length of the cocoon was about seven-eighths of an inch; its upper surface rose tapering from the stem rather suddenly in a slope to the thickest part at about one-third of its length, where the head of the larva was last seen ; thence it again tapered and sloped off very gradually at thelowerend. (W.B., Note Book III, 96.) 4A, NOLA OENTONALIS. NoOLA CENTONALIS. Plate XLITI, fig. 6. On August 21st, 1879, I received twelve eggs of this species from Mr. Tugwell, who had been staying at Deal, where he found the species and saved two females for eggs. The food-plant of the larva not then known, but the principal plants the moths were found on or near were dwarf plants of Hippophaé rhamnoides, Salix argentea, Senecio jacobea, Pimpinella saxifraga, Lotus corniculatus, Thymus serpyllum, and of grasses Arundo arenaria (Marram), Agrostis —?, Aira —?, Triticwm —P, and one or two Juncacee. Once a moth was taken by Mr. Tugwell on Freshwater Down, where Thymus serpyllum grows very freely. The eggs were laid on and adhering to a paper box singly and in groups of two or three or four in a cluster. In shape the egg is circular, somewhat flat- tened in character, and having a depression above. It is very strongly ribbed and most minutely reticu- lated ; the shell is glistening and of a pale, creamy- white colour. Unfortunately these eggs proved in- fertile. | Mr. Tugwell informed me that the fertile eggs showed on the fourth or fifth day a central pale grey or round spot, which increased in intensity till the hatching, and the other parts of the egg became less white. On September 16th Mr. Tugwell sent me six young larve feeding on Trifoliwm procumbens and Lotus corniculatus ; they were little more than a tenth of an inch in length, rather stout in proportion, deep flesh- colour, the head shining reddish-brown, marked on each lobe with darker brown, a darkish brown plate on the second segment; the body with subdorsal, NOLA CENTONALIS. Ab lateral, and spiracular rows of projecting warty pink tubercles, with radiating, longish greyish-brown hairs. This larva has only three pairs of ventral prolegs, the first pair being absent. Trifolium procumbens appears to be their proper food, as they like getting on the hop-like seeding heads, to which their colour assimilates well. On the 22nd and 23rd they moulted, and the next day were thicker and of a subdued, velvety, deep red colour, the tubercles a glistening blackish- brown, the hairs light brown. They now ate away the cuticle of the leaves, causing semi-transparent whitish blotches on them. (From Mr. Tugwell I learnt subsequently that the egos hatched August 27th and 28th, and the larvee moulted first on September 5th and 6th; the second moult occurred from the 13th to the 16th, and contemporary with my portion of them the third moult occurred from the 21st to the 25th.) On the 26th the larve had again become paler flesh colour, but with somewhat of a faint greenish tinge, the tubercles dark reddish. I observed one feeding on a blossom and another eating the red-brown, hop- like envelopes, exposing the ends of the seeds. On September 30th one fixed itself as if for the fourth moult, and by October 6th all five had moulted, and, as on each former moult, the head-piece remained attached to the old skin. As this breaks away behind the plate, the larva draws its head out from the old helmet and then creeps out of its old coat; the split is somewhat in form of the letter I, which opens, and a portion lies over on either side, so that the egress of the larva is comparatively easy. The larve were now feeding slowly on the flowers and leaves of Trifolium minus. They were dingy red, with a dorsal line of paler brownish-ochreous faintly edged with darker than the ground, the tubercles all of a shining blackish-brown, the skin of the body soft without gloss; they were again given 1’. procumbens, 4.6 NOLA OCENTONALIS. of which they ate well both flowers and leaves, until the 15th, when, a frost occurring, they became very torpid. Their structure was now very well seen, they having only three pair of ventral prolegs ; the head blackish- brown and shining, a small semilunar plate of the same colour and finely divided on the second segment, and three rows of dark brown tubercles on each side of the body; the upper or subdorsal row was the largest and most prominent, and all were thickly studded with radiating brown hairs, a few single, much longer, hairs occurring behind and along the sides. On October 22rd, as they had not fed for more than a week, I placed them out on a potted plant of Lotus corniculatus, but next morning, the 24th, about 11 o’clock, one of two kept back in a bottle for observa- tion moulted for the fifth time, whereupon I withdrew the sprays on which were the other three from the Lotus, and secured them in another bottle to await their moult, which occurred during the night, so that on the following morning, the 25th, I found that only one larva was waiting for this operation, which was not accomplished until 10 a.m. on the 27th. Up to that date none of the larve had fed at all since ~ moulting, and up to the end of the month they all refused to feed, and had begun to hibernate. On November 4th I received a full-grown larva of the same brood from Mr. Tugwell, who by keeping several larve in a warm room with a fire and gas, confined in a wide-mouthed glass bottle containing mixed food of Trifolium minus, T. pratense blossoms, and Medicago lupulina, on all of which they fed (the bottle tied over with calico and over the bottle a large glass globe (P shade), to prevent the food drying too much), had forced them forward to maturity. This larva I figured as soon as it arrived. Its length was nine-sixteenths of an inch, or nearly five-eighths when stretched out fully; 1t was stout and plump, the segments well divided, and having on each side of the body three rows of prominent warty NOLA CENTONALIS. A tubercles (i.e. a transverse series of six across each segment), the upper row the largest, the middle row the smallest, and all emitting fascicles of radiating hairs, single hairs of much greater length proceeding from the anal tubercles, and one from each tubercle of the lowermost row on the sides. The skin itself was soft and smooth between these tubercles, which allowed but little of it to be seen on the upper parts of the body, but the ventral surface showed it to be soft and just a trifle glistening; the body tapered a little behind, and rather more from second segment to the head. It had only three pairs of ventral prolegs. The colour of the glossy head was blackish-brown, above the mouth a broad streak of dingy pink, papillee paler; the body generally and the tubercles were of this same dingy deep pink or dirty purplish pink, beautifully relieved by a dorsal line of ochreous yellow, which passed through a V mark of velvety-black at the beginning of each segment, separating the black into two sharp wedges. A fine linear black streak ante- riorly ran beneath each upper tubercle, representative of the subdorsal line ; the tracheal thread of faint pale yellowish ran midway between the middle and lower rows of tubercles, and showed more distinctly at each part bearing a black spiracle directly on it, so that this very faint yellowish line had an interrupted appearance towards each segmental division. The hairs were lightish greyish-brown, rather shining, and from their reflecting the colour of the body and of themselves also, and occupying so much space about the upper surface of the body, produced there somewhat of a general brownish effect. The anterior legs dingy pink, marked with darkish brown ; the ventral and anal prolegs of the pinkish ground colour, but more transparent and fringed with hooks. After feeding on flowers of common red clover for several days it at length spun itself up after very AS NOLA CENTONALIS. leisurely constructing the case formed of gnawings of the bark of the stem in two wing-like halves, and then drawing them together, the stem itself being the base of the inverted boat-shaped structure. As to my small hibernating larve I found one on March 7th, 1880, but it went asleep next day without feeding, but a few days later while in a bottle it began to feed on young leaves of Trifoliwm procumbens for a couple of days, and then ceased during an interval of cold east winds, and remained fixed on the under side of a leaf, where on April Ist it had moulted, the old skin remaining close beside it. This to my astonish- ment made the sixth moult, a circumstance unique in my experience ! From a communication since received from Mr. Tugwell I believe it might be possible that the larvee sent to me were not in their second skins as he had thought at the time, but really before thew second moult. The larva then fed very sparingly, but on April 17th, though it had grown very slowly in the interval, its colouring was different, and it agreed more closely with the forced full-grown larva in having the yellow ochreous dorsal line visible ; the general colouring of the body was a darker red than before, the tubercles were still dark blackish-brown, but the dark brown hairs were more conspicuous. On the 22nd it fixed itself for aauetthtee moult (the seventh, H. T. 8.), which was accomplished on April 27th at midnight. After a few days it began to feed again, and so con- tinued at intervals according to the temperature until May 13th; the black V’s at the beginning of each segment through which the yellow dorsal line ran had now become deep pink, and a ring of pale flesh colour surrounded the base of every tubercle, all of which remained blackish-brown. It now ceased to feed, and thinking it might spin up I supplied it with a stem, which, proving to be hollow, the larva crept NOLA CENTONALIS. 49 inside, and there remained until the morning of the 18th, when it was out and feeding on a flower of purple clover. On splitting up the stem I found therein the cast-off skin (the eighth, H. T. 8.). On the 23rd it again fixed itself to moult (the ninth, H. T. 8.), and accomplished the operation by the morning of the 27th. The black V’s were now dis- tinct, the tubercles no longer dark, the yellow ochre dorsal line quite bright. It fed well on flowers of Trifolium pratense and repens until June 3rd, when it ceased to feed, and on the 4th took up its position on a dry stem placed for it, and began very deliberately to construct its case of two side wing-like pieces of silk, covering them with portions gnawed off from the stem; these by the evening of the 5th seemed to be complete, and by night the larva was joining them together from within. By the next morning, June 6th, the larva was enclosed, and the structure appeared complete. (W. B., Note Book III, 296.) [Surprise is expressed at this larva moulting the siath time, but no surprise seems to have been caused by its moulting three times after the sixth moult !— mn. TS. | On October 29th, 1882, Mr. W. R. Jeffrey sent me a few egos laid by a bred female, which had paired in captivity. They were laid on a dry stalk by the side of a cocoon from which one of the moths had emerged, and adhered to the side of a little hollow channel so as not readily to be seen. The shape of the egg is round and slightly flattened, having a central depression on the upper surface. It is finely ribbed and reticulated, white when first laid, but afterwards became of a more creamy tint, and having within the central hollow in the top of the egg a ring of brown atoms. On November 4th { described a larva of this species, then nine-sixteenthsof an inch in length stoutish, plump, with three rows of prominent tubercular warts, the upper or subdorsal row the largest, the next row the VOL. Il. 4 50 NOLA CENTONALIS. smallest, under them are the black spiracles, then another row of tubercles; the head and second seg- ment tapering, the head smallest, dark, or blackish- brown, very glossy ; colour of the body a kid-leather- like skin, a dingy pink, or dingy purplish-pink; the straight dorsal line ochreous-yellow, with a black velvety V-mark at the beginning of each segment through which the dorsal ochreous yellow line runs, separating each black V into two wedges. A black streak or line bounded anteriorly the lower margin of each subdorsal tubercle, and another, shorter and less notice- able, bounded the subspiracular tubercular. The tubercles were so large in proportion, and occupied so much space, that but little of the soft skin was seen between them, and a general brownish effect was pro- duced by the rather brownish hairs which radiate from _ them. As usual in this genus the longer hairs were single, issuing from the lower tubercles, and noticeably from those of the thirteenth segment.