82 LIST OF LEPIDOPTERA. 



the little black eggs of C. furcula and bifida at the end of May and in 

 June. They are generally laid on the leaf, and almost invariably upon the 

 upper side. Sometimes, however, they are deposited upon the twigs. The 

 young larvae are not difficult to rear after they have moulted once or twice. (C.) 



54. C. vinula. — Common. I do not remember whether I mentioned in my 

 paper on pupa digging, that the empty cocoons of this species are occasionally 

 used by caterpillars too lazy to make one of their own; such is the case, 

 however, and they should consequently be always carefully broken open. 



55. P. cassinea. — Larva not uncommon, but very difficult to rear. Even 

 supposing you obtain a pupa from your larva, which happens about once in 

 twenty times, it is very apt to dry up, or to produce a cripple. Though I 

 must have had one hundred larva? of this species since I first began to collect, 

 I am still without a female. I took about eighteen this spring and summer, 

 and they resulted in one pupa. Tenderly and anxiously was this "one chick" 

 watched over, and at length it came out on the 1st. of December, very late 

 by the way, and produced the long-desired female; but, alas! it was a cripple ! 

 May others have better success. 



N.B. — I found this larva in the spring of 1857, on oak, hazel, sallow, and 

 ash. It prefers, I think, the two former trees. From nine larva? so obtained, 

 I was fortunate enough to breed six specimens of the perfect insect in the 

 autumn, three £ and three $ . Two of them, one $ and one <j> were 

 crippled, which I attributed to my having moved those particular pupa?, a 

 very bad plan. Their dates of appearance were, first, November 6th., Q. ; 

 last, December 3rd., Q. . (B.) 



The larva is polyphagous; I have either beaten it or seen it beaten from 

 oak, ash, elm, lime, sallow, beech, aspen, and hazel. From the latter tree I 

 beat seven or eight very small larva? this spring, about the 7th. of May. In 

 this stage of its existence the larva is a voracious cannibal; out of my seven 

 or eight larva?, only three were left in a very few days. About the same 

 time, Mr. Bernard Smith was rearing a brood from the egg, and he informed 

 me that more than half fell victims to the cannibal propensities of their 

 comrades. This unnatural appetite seems to cease when they are about half 

 fed. In confinement this larva requires plenty of air. If it is kept in a 

 box with a close-fitting lid, it perspires freely and soon dies; I lost at least 

 twenty in this way this year, and write to warn others. The egg, which is 

 laid in the autumn, is a dull slate-colour, and is a very peculiar one. The 

 lower part is saucer-shaped, the upper raised like the lid of a jar; between 

 the two parts runs a sort of rim. The upper half is beautifully ribbed, the 

 points of the ribs all meeting at the apex in a kind of knob. The lower 

 half is also ribbed, but less distinctly. The whole very much reminds the 

 observer of a round cut-glass butter-boat. I am indebted to the liberality 

 of Mr. Bingham, of Newnham, for the eggs from which this description is 

 taken. (C.) 



56. P. palpina. — By no means common. 



N.B. — I have never had any doubt in my own mind for some years past 

 that this insect is double-brooded, as I have several times taken the larva full- 

 fed in July, and again commonly in September and October. It feeds indis. 



