NOTES ON" LAPHYG5IA EXIGUA. 7 



were supplied with broad-leaved plantain (which they would not 

 touch, although it is said to be their foodplant), Poa annua, dande- 

 lion, and groundsel, and these three latter they nibl^led at, eating away 

 little round patches in the cuticle, but, in a short time, they settled 

 down to the groundsel only, though for the first two or three days 

 after hatching they were restless, and wandered about a great deal, and, 

 doubtless, many of them were then lost, for I found they could easily 

 squeeze themselves through the hne muslin which covered the jam-pot 

 in which they were kept, and so I had to substitute fine cambric. l]y 

 October 2oth, they had grown very little, and many of them were then 

 living in society in webs spun on the undersides of the leaves. They 

 were kept in a warm room on a table close to the window. I fancy if 

 they had been out of doors at this stage of their existence they might 

 have attempted to hybernate. It does not state in any work I have 

 in what stage this species passes the winter. 



About the middle of November, many of the larvre began to die 

 off, turning black and flaccid, and I thought this might be due to the 

 food, so I introduced some dock-leaves among the groundsel, and, as they 

 immediately took to the dock, and seemed to thrive better on it, I with- 

 drew the groundsel. At this date, they were of an uniform pale green, 

 with brown heads, and still kept together in little family parties, 

 devouring the cuticle of the dock-leaves. Unfortunately, dock is 

 difKcult to keep fresh for more than a day or two, and so I had to 

 supply them with fresh food about every third day, removing each 

 larva with a camel's hair pencil. When touched, they curled them- 

 selves round into a half-circle, and those that dropped often hung 

 suspended by silken threads. I tried them with several kinds of dock, 

 and found that they showed a decided preference for Iltoiuw rrif<))ns, 

 the crinkled leaves of which afforded them a better shelter to spin their 

 webs in than the smoother leaves of other varieties, and it also kept 

 fresher for a longer period. I do not possess a greenhouse or hot- 

 house, so the breeding-cages were kept on a shelf fixed to a wooden 

 partition between a bath-room and drying-room where a hot- water 

 cylinder stands. The temperature here varied from between 48° F. and 

 GQ-^F. 



The larvit' continued to feed and grow slowl}- throughout the 

 winter, but still kept dying off, and, by January 17th, most of those 

 left, ahout two dozen, appeared to be fullgrown, and one of them spun 

 a cocoon composed of silk and particles of earth against the side ot its 

 breeding-cage. On January 2Hth, only eight larvae remained, and by 

 February Ibth, this number had Ijeen reduced to one, which lived for 

 a few days longer and then died. The only larva that spun up and 

 changed to a pupa died in that state, so my attempt to breed the 

 species during the winter months ended in failure, Avhich was 

 extremely disappointing after having sacrificed three perfect specimens. 

 If I had been lucky enough to have taken the parents six weeks earlier 

 I have little doubt that the; results would have been very different. 



The only instance that I know of this species having been bred in 

 England is recorded in Newman's llritish Mntlis, p. 290, where it is stated 

 that, on March 2nd, 1859, Dr. Wallace exhibited specimens at a meeting 

 of the Entomological Society of London that were bred from eggs laid 

 by a female taken in the Isle of Wight. The eggs were laid about 

 July 18th, hatched in about three weeks, the larva> were fullfed about 



