364 Description of Lepidojpterous Larvce. 



of the same brood, and that each moult of the larvse adds or subti'acts 

 essential features, the importance of correctly describing the adult 

 caterpillar cannot be overestimated. If some of the larvte, forming the 

 subject of this paper, have been described more fully,! shall be only too 

 glad to know it. As what I have written, has been from actual study 

 of the living specimens, bred by myself, those descriptions, which are, 

 correct, must agree with mine; and those less correct will be rendered 

 plainer to the student by what is here offered. It may not be out of 

 place to add, that my experience, in rearing lepidopterous larvse, ex- 

 tends over a period of five years, during which time many scores of 

 s^iecimens have been bred, of many species, giving the fullest ojipor- 

 tunities for their study. 



As many of the larvee herein described are, as yet, unknown to me 

 in the perfect state or imago, I have numbered these descriptions, and 

 their future determination will depend upon my success with pup® now 

 in my possession, or upon knowledge already in possession of natural- 

 ists. The species herein described hp,ve been reared during the present 

 season, some of which have reached the pupa state, while others ai'e 

 still feeding in the cages. 



Limacodes And Its Allies. 



This anomalous group, which derives its name from the slug-like 

 form of the larvte, has its distinguishing characteristics as follows : 

 Larvre oval or oblong, flattened beneath, oval, rounded, or flattened 

 above, (or with two of these peculiarities united), flattened and keeled 

 at the sides, and frequently ornamented with rows of fleshy spines and 

 tubercles, inserted at the ridge of the keels. These spines and tuber- 

 cles, in all the species bearing them that have come under my obser- 

 vation, are densely spinulose, and often highly colored. The head is 

 covered by a remarkable development of the anterior margin of the 

 second segment, which, for convenience, I shall call the Jiood, and which 

 is brought down over the head and mouth parts of the insect when feeding, 

 to the margin of the leaf, and folded over the edge to the side opposite 

 that upon which the insect rests, concealing the head and mouth parts 

 entirely. The thoracic legs are well developed, though diflicult to see, 

 as they are withdrawn into the fleshy envelope which surrounds them. 

 If, however, the insect be placed upon its back, in the struggle to re- 

 gain its natural position, they will be thrust out, and will be seen as 

 small, white, sharp j)oints. I have been unable to see that they are of 

 any use to the insect as organs of locomotion, as, during that process, 

 they are withdrawn, and not brought in contact with the surface pass- 



