NOTES ON PHOKODESMA (coMIB.ENA) PGSTLLATA, HUl'N. 17o 



some of the faded beauty of the common " vai'.,'" yet at the same time 

 one feels uncertain whether such a process of converting: poor into 

 decent specimens would be quite legitimate, if it were possible. 



The life story of /'. /nistidata is recorded by the Rev. E. Horton, 

 and the Rev. •). Hellins in the l<)it. Mo. Man., vol. ii., pp. 91, 111 

 (1866). These communications are reprinted in Buckler's Larme of 

 lin'ti-s/i lliittcrtiics and Motlis, vol. viii., part 1, p. 57, and the fullfed larva 

 is figured in the latter work, pl.cxv., tig. 1-5, both clothed and unclothed. 

 Barrett, if I remember rightly (for I do not possess his book), reprints 

 the above conanunications, and figures a couple of specimens of the 

 perfect insect — perfect in every sense, but differing only in size. 



Mr. H. A. Auld contributes (/v«^j//(o^('//'-''^ vol- xxx., p. 801, December, 

 1897), a most interesting picture, handed to him by Dr. Knaggs, of 

 the young larva?, showing the attitudes assumed, and the wonderful 

 protecti\e use' of their dress. Every field entomologist will endorse 

 Mr. Auld's remarks as to the difficulty of recognising the larva in its 

 complete disguise, and I hope that this spring some of my hearers, 

 with a view to a bred series, will, when out larva-beating, take the 

 trouble to preserve, instead of turning out, some of the (lt'bri>< beaten 

 from the oak, and will observe whether or no they have brought home 

 some of these curious larv* also. I would suggest that the material 

 be turned into a paper- or Imen-bag for carriage, and that it be emptied 

 into a shallow box, or pan, with a sprig or two of oak, covered up, and 

 left for an hour or two to see what comes to the surface. Mr. Hellins 

 in his before-mentioned paper, speaks of a partial secondbrood, in so 

 far as one of his larvae pupated at the end of August, while the rest of 

 the larv* went into hybernation. He does not say that the perfect 

 insect emerged, but no doubt it did so. This reminds me of my 

 experience with P. s)naratjdaria, of which I twice reared a partial second 

 brood. But his rearing may have been done under cover, mine was 

 carried on out-of-doors. 



Mr. Horton in his paper, also before mentioned, discovered the 

 manner in which the fullfed larva dressed itself, and saw the papillee 

 upon the sides, to which the larva attached the fragments with which 

 it constructed its garment trit/i silk. He records that, having supplied 

 a freshly-emerged larva with rose leaves, and nothing else, the creature 

 gnawed them up, and constructed therefrom "nine rosy favours." 

 Probably he did not distinguish two upon the top of the 8th abdominal 

 segment, but it is a curious confirmation of his observation that one 

 of the full-grown larvae, which I have mounted for examination, has 

 lost, or never had, one of the papillae upon the 8th abdominal segment. 

 No other observer, so far as I can discover has ever gone further than 

 this, and 1 believe no one has submitted the young larva to examination 

 or attempted to confirm Mr. Hellins' observation, I hope, therefore, that 

 I am the first again. Mr. Hellins' notice appeared in 1865, but appears 

 to have been quite forgotten. I find, for example, a contributor to the 

 Kntoiii. JuTord (vol. iii., p. 180, 1892) remarking upon the "stickiness" 

 of some young larvae when hatched out, and an editorial note to the 

 effect that " this species and P. sniaraijdarla gnaw off pieces of their 

 food, and gum them on their bodies. The body is not, however, of 

 believe, ' sticky,' nor is the attachment of the pieces a matter I 

 chance." 



This proves pretty clearly the state of expert knowledge in the year 



