244 THE entomologist's record. 



ovipositors, lay theii* eggs in the stems of trees, in which case they can 

 be very easily transported ; Mr. E. E. (Ireen exhibited at the Entomo- 

 logical Society of London (March 18th, 1896) the eggs, probably of a 

 Pseudophyllid, extracted from a twig of Cinchona from Ceylon. " A 

 slit halt an inch deep and more than two inches long had been cut into 

 the hard wood," and in this slit the eggs had been laid. If this 

 Brazilian Atjrticcia also deposits its eggs in a slit in wood, it can be 

 easily imagined that they can be transported from one part of the world 

 to another. — Ibid. 



:^OTES ON LIFE-HISTORIES, LARYiE, &c. 



Larva and Pupation of Plusia moxeta. — Between June 4th and 

 10th last I took one young and fourteen nearly full-grown larva^, and 

 three cocoons of I'liisia mont'ta on IhiphiniiDii growing in a garden 

 situated at Heme Hill, within the four-mile radius of Charing Cross. 

 Although I had l)ut little time to spend in studying these insects, I 

 made the following observations, which perhaps will interest some of 

 the readei's of 'I'lic HntonioUxiisVs Itt'conl. I may premise by saying 

 that I know nothing of the habits, &c., of the young larvse, as unfortu- 

 nately the only young one I found sickened and died shortly after its 

 capture. The average length of the full-grown larva is about one and 

 a half inches. The head is small and round, the body gradually 

 increasing in bulk horn the head to the 8th abdominal segment from 

 which it tapers slightly. Its anal extremity is rounded. The seg- 

 mental incisions are deeply marked. The larvte are slightly hairy, the 

 small very light green hairs being placed at regular intervals on each 

 segment. The skin is smooth and glossy, and of an apple-green colour, 

 the head and legs being glaucous green. The larva' have three pairs 

 of true legs, the same number of prolegs, and a pair of anal claspers. 

 The dorsal line is of a darker green than the ground colour, while the 

 subdorsal and spiracular lines are of a lighter green. These latter 

 lines were almost white in the one young larva I had. The larva? feed 

 at night, resting during the day on the underside of the leaves of 

 Delphinium along the mid-rib, with the head bent round towards the 

 body. It seems to prefer the lower leaves of the plant to the higher 

 and younger ones. While crawling the body has the action characteris- 

 tic of a Geometer. It is not easily knocked oft' from the leaf, and, if 

 touched, waves its head from side to side as if trying to hit one's finger 

 away. The larvie began spinning their cocoons between June 6th and 

 14th, taking about four days to complete this task. They first spun a 

 very thin white oval cocoon on the underside of the leaves, or on the 

 top or side of the breeding-cage (if kept in captivity), the larva' for the 

 most part preferring to he "topsy-turvy," two only out of my specimens 

 spinning on the side of the breeding-cage ; they afterwards strengthen 

 the cocoon by either spinning further layers of silk, or else by biting 

 the original cocoon (which they do is hard to determine) so that in the 

 end a fairly firm cocoon is made. During the whole of these four days 

 the larvje are very restless, and if disturbed they eat their way out of 

 the cocoon, and altera short time recommence making another cocoon. 

 The cocoons spun on the leaves gradually began to turn to a rich golden- 

 yellow colour, taking about three days from when they wore finished to 

 completely change colour, but Lhost spun elsewhere than on the leaves 



