272 LOutobci, 



saw at large) sheltering from a stiff wind ou some park paliugs, 

 distant four miles at least from the sandstone wall, and of quite a 

 different aspect ; the one being in the midst of a rich and flat agricul- 

 tural district, the other on the hills with a limestone soil, rich only in 

 productions dear to a naturalist, or a lover of the picturesque. 



My earliest date for the larva is February 9th, this was in 1889. 

 They were then about 3'" long and apparently hibernating, they seem 

 to wake up irregularly, for some have made considerable progress by 

 the middle of April and have brought their galleries up to the surface, 

 while others have grown but little and still keep their galleries out of 

 sight underneath the moss, in the position they occupy through the 

 winter. They are provokingly slow feeders, hence the chief difiiculty 

 if the attempt be made to rear them indoors. 



This year I deferred collecting them till May 25th, selecting two 

 of the patches that had the strongest galleries, yet these larvjB were 

 still feeding and appeared likely to continue doing so for a while, when 

 I examined them for the last time on June Gth and took their de- 

 scription. 



The moss they are eating on this wall is the common creeping 

 species, Somalothechcin sericeum, but I do not suppose that the insect 

 can be restricted to this single kind. 



I have just found a belated individual, newly emerged, in the 

 vessel containing the pupa? of Jul}"^ 23rd. 



Tarrington, Ledbury : 



August 22nd, 1891. 



Description of the larva of Aplota palpella. — The adult larva is long and 

 slender, of nearly uniform bulk from end to end, and with the segmental divisions 

 only moderately defined, their skinfolds being white. Ground-colour pale greenish- 

 white or yellowish-white. A purple band, with the edges (especially the upper one) 

 irregular and broken, occupies the subdorsal region, becoming fainter and narrower 

 at the divisions. A paler band of the same colour runs along the spiracular region, 

 and is even more broken and irregular than the subdorsal, being divided on each 

 segment into two separate portions. Immediately below the spiracular band is a 

 whitish skinfold, and then come the underparts, which are of tlie ground-colour. 

 Head and thoracic plate shining black, the latter with a pale dividing line, not 

 reaching the anterior border. Anal plate ochreous-brown. Legs of the ground- 

 colour. Spots small and indistinct ; the trapezoidals lying in the subdorsal bands, 

 nearly in a line. Hairs pale and rather long. 



The hibernating larva only differs in that tlie bauds are darker and redder, and 

 in having a reddish suilusion on the back between the subdorsal bands, more es- 

 pecially, and sometimes only, on the anterior and posterior parts of tlie segment. 



The pupa lies in a flimsy cocoon at the end of the gallery. It is pale yellow, 



