1891. J 297 



The larva, when first hatclied, is remarkably lively, crawling very fast ; it is 

 difficult to keep in confinement, as it seems to be able to get out of almost anything ; 

 after a day or two, however, it settles down to its food (sallow), and gives no more 

 trouble. It seems to like best the under-side of a sallow leaf, especially of a stipule, 

 as a place of residence, spinning thereon a white silken covering for itself, on the 

 outside of which it sticks the down from the leaf, thereby making its abode very 

 inconspicuous. In its earlier days it is gregarious in its habits, several larvae living 

 under one covering ; as it grows older it becomes m.ore solitary, though, even up to 

 the time of its being full-fed, two will often inhabit the same house. In its older 

 stages it generally draws two leaves together and lives between them, or sometimes 

 makes its home by folding over a part of a leaf It rests with its head curled round 

 to its tail, and it is remarkable how small an abode one or two good sized larviE seem 

 to find comfortable. At night it sallies out and feeds upon its own or the neigh- 

 bouring leaves, but not on the part it has spun over. It remains nearly full-fed for 

 a very long time before it forms its cocoon ; most of my brood appeai-ed to be full- 

 fed early in September, and on October 25th there were still some tliat had not spun 

 up for pupation. The larva descends to the surface of the gi'ound about the middle 

 of October and there spins a tough cocoon of silk mixed with small pieces of earth 

 and rubbish, in which it shortly turns to a pupa. In one or two cases the larva 

 spun up and turned between the sallow leaves, but this was not at all of frequent 

 occurrence. 



When quite young the larva is rather transparent, pale greenish, with a ringed 

 appearance, owing to a very distinct dull red transverse band on the back of each 

 segment, and with a dark brown head and plate on second segment, which become 

 lighter with successive changes of skin. The markings on the body become less 

 defined at each change, and gradually more marbled with ochreous, the red bands 

 soon losing their definite outline, and becoming more suffused over the whole seg- 

 ment, except the folds where the segments unite, which remain green. 



The description of the larva in its last stage is as follows : — Length about one 

 inch ; rather stout, tapering very slightly towards the extremities. The head is 

 rather flat, the rest of the body neai'ly cylindrical. There is a rather striking oblique 

 fold on the side of each segment in the neighbourhood of the spiracles, and the 

 whole body has a somewhat wrinkled appearance. Head brown, much speckled and 

 blotched with darker brown, clypeus and mandibles dark brown ; 2nd segment with 

 a shining, very pale ochreous, dorsal plate, marked with brown, and having a broad 

 darker brown dorsal band extending to the subdorsal lines ; body verdigris-green, 

 marbled with dingy ochreous, and more or less suffused with pink, sometimes almost 

 crimson, the green often entirely disappearing, except between the segments ; 11th, 

 12th and 13th segments more entirely ochreous, the latter having a shining ochreous 

 anal plate, generally slightly dotted with black ; a similar plate extends over the 

 whole of the hinder half of the anal clasper down to the foot ; the dorsal, subdorsal 

 and two other lines above, and one just below the spiracles are greyish, and rather 

 darker than the ground colour, the line immediately above the spiracles very distinct 

 and blackish on segments 2, 3 and 4, the dorsal line also being more distinct than 

 the rest. Spiracles black, small, but distinct ; legs marked with pale brown, and 

 having a double, narrow, black mark in front where they join the body ; claspers 

 pale ochreous, booklets reddish-brown ; under-side of body pale ochreous, tinged 

 with pink, and with verdigris-green showing through here and there. The usual 

 warts are polished, but otherwise like the adjacent skin, except for a small dark 

 brown dot in the middle, from which springs a pale ochreous bristle. 



EE 



