Cljt €^anaiiai] Entomologist. 



VOL. XIII. LONDON, ONT., FEBRUARY, 1881. No. 2 



ON THE EARLY STAGES OF PLUSIA PRECAl lONIS, Guenee. 



BY D. W. COQUILLETT, WOODSTOCK, ILL. 



Egg. — Flattened-globular or button-shaped, sometimes with an im- 

 pressed spot in the centre of the upper side ; upper part grooved, grooves 

 narrow, interspaces roughened ; milky white ; transverse diameter about 

 J^ m. m. 



Larva. — First stage : Body deep green, two dorsal, a subdorsal and 

 stigmatal white line, the latter the most distinct ; piliferous spots green, 

 usually tipped with black, each bearing a short black hair ; venter deep 

 green, unmarked ; head pale green. Provided with only 1 2 legs. 



Second stage : Same as first, and with an indistinct whitish line on the 

 dorsal space ; subdorsal space usually tinged with black. 



Third and last stage : Same as second ; body robust, tapering 

 anteriorly ; length at maturity i ]^ inches. 



Chrysalis. — Of the usual shape, blackish brown, terminates behind 

 in a short, thick, cylindrical projection, rounded behind and tipped with 

 one or two small hooks ; antennae and leg cases project beyond the wing 

 cases in the form of a small bulb ; length from 13 to 15 m. m. 



In the larvae of this brood I observed only two moults, and if there is 

 a greater number of moults than this they probably occur prior to the first 

 moult mentioned above. Just before moulting the larvas left their food 

 and collected on the ceiling of their cage. 



In some of the captured larvae which I have reared the piliferous spots 

 were sometimes entirely black, or had a black basal annulation ; some- 

 times the head was surrounded with black, or had a black streak on each 

 side ; in many of them all of the white lines, except the stigmatal, were 

 obsolete. 



On the 17th of May, 1880, I enclosed a female precationis in one of 

 my breeding-boxes in which some grass, clover and plantain were growing. 

 In the afternoon of the next day she laid about 50 eggs, placing them 

 singly, or in small rows or patches, on both the upper and under sides of 



