154 [July, 



life-history of this insect, with no details of structure in the larval 

 and pupal stage, but he has excellent figures of larvae and pupae as 

 vs^ell as the imago. 



Having little to do on December 26th, 1899, except look for 

 larvae, I paid some attention to this prickly subject, and after an hour 

 or two obtained some half dozen pupae and a fair number of larvae 

 from the shrub nettle {TJrtica ferox) ; these larvae varied in size, from 

 Tfl inch to about 1^ inches just before pupation. Hudson says the 

 larva "constructs a small tent by fastening together several of the 

 leaves of the food-plant." This it certainly does when large and near 

 pupation, for in such manner does it shroud the pupa (just as the 

 English V. Atalanta does), but when younger it sometimes turns down 

 the end of one leaf, but more often, in the middle of the leaf, a portion 

 is divided except at the midrib and the edges drawn together (not 

 unlike the manner of Vanessa urticce on a nettle leaf). 



Hudson says : — " Egg, deposited on nettle leaf, is barrel-shaped, ornamented 

 with a series of longitudinal ribs, meeting at a central spot on top. Pale green, 

 with ribs white. Young larvae first hatched dusky yellow with spines." My 

 material is as follows. Larvee vary somewhat in colour, but the small to about half 

 grown ones appear quite oily as though dipped in grease ; this disappears in the 

 larger specimens. 



Length, -^-g inch. Colour, dark brown, with black elevated tubercles bearing a 

 number of pointed setse. No mid-dorsal line, but on abdominal segments there is 

 an interrupted subspiracular line of whitish (or yellowish) colour ; all over the skin 

 there are many minute hairs perceptibly only under one-fourth lens (these are not 

 white) . 



Length, 1 inch. Colour, skin black, with innumerable minute white tubercles, 

 each with a white hair, these give the skin a lighter dusted colour, they are most 

 numerous as transverse series, but are really scattered all over the skin of head, 

 thorax and abdomen, dorsal, lateral and ventral area. A subdorsal series of yellow 

 spots from mesothorax to 8lh abdominal. A pale yellow supra- spiracular line on 

 thoracic segments, marked only on abdominal segments by small spots posterior to 

 the spiracles, and a rather broad subspiracular line extends from prothorax to 9th 

 abdominal of yellow colour. Ventral area (below subspiracular line) is medium 

 brown, with darker mid ventral line, abdominal feet yellow, thoracic legs black, pale 

 at joints. The spiny tubercles consist of a pale coloured base, upon which are a 

 number of pointed bristles (these also are thorny under i inch) which surround a 

 central bristle, each of these bristles rises from thicker, dark chitinous, cigar-shaped 

 stems, which are rooted in the aforementioned pale coloured base. 



These examples may be regarded as typical ; as regards structure 

 they are most difficult to describe, owing to the numerous secondary 

 tubercles, but so far as I could see there was only one point of differ- 

 ence in structure between small and larger specimens, and this will be 

 mentioned in my description of the larger specimen. 



