LIFE-HISTORIES. 187 



have not yet hatched, but they have not fallen in, and look healthy. 

 They are dull mulberry-brown with some light mottling. The eggs 

 (three in number) all hatched October Ist and 2nd. Larva : The 

 newly-hatched larva is l-6mni. in length. The head is pale grey 

 speckled with dark brown. It is shiny. The brown specks apparently 

 mark the places of the " lemon-rind " pits common to larvae of the 

 Satyrids. It bears numerous long stiff-looking pale grey hairs. Body 

 colour, pale grey. There is a broad, light brown, dorsal line faintly 

 marked on the thoracic segments, strong on the abdominals and 

 increasing in distinctness towards end of body. Subdorsal and 

 supraspiracular lines of the same colour, not so distinct but especially 

 weak on the thoracic segments. I cannot see any other lines below. 

 The tubercles are veyij larr/e. They are black specks set upon warty 

 bases of a dirty brownish -white colour. The anterior subdorsals (i) and 

 supraspiraculars (iii) are especially large. The large subdorsals give the 

 appearance of a "keel" along their line, making the dorsal centre 

 look very flat. All the tubercles bear long, stiff, light brown hairs, 

 these and the tubercles giving the larva an Arctiid appearance. The 

 forks are merely two large tubercles, wide apart and diverging. They 

 have not yet the appearance of the subsequent forks. — H. Powell, 

 7, Rue Mireille, Hyeres, France. 



Curious egg-laying of Melit^ea aurinia. — This day I found a 

 y of Melitaea aurinia depositing in a field near Ham ponds. I am 

 sending you the leaf with ova attached. She appears to have laid two 

 batches of ova, but one batch of ova is partly deposited over a batch 

 laid probably by another $ , as those underneath have changed colour. 

 It seems rather strange she should have chosen that leaf, as the food- 

 plant occurred in abundance. — Stuart G. Hills, Public Library, 

 Folkestone. June 1st., 1905. 



Notes on the larva of Oinophila v-flavum, Haw. — Early last 

 summer I received from Mr. V. Eric Shaw a wine cork, containing 

 two larvae of Oinophila v-jiartivi. On commencing to pull the cork 

 to pieces I saw various portions of the larvte, but it was a very difficult 

 matter to get them out of the cork. They had formed long, slender, 

 tortuous galleries in the less sound portion (the upper) of the cork, 

 and they moved along these galleries very rapidly. The only way to 

 get the larvae out was to break up the cork piecemeal. Even in doing 

 this very carefully 1 fatally injured one of the larvte ; the other was 

 put in a tin box with small pieces of cork, and fed up well. When 

 fullfed, the larva was very long and slender, measuring 12mm. in 

 length (when extended), but only 1mm. in width. Head rather large 

 and flat, deep ochreous, partly retractile into the protborax. The 

 jaws strong. The thoracic segments are rather fiat, but the abdomi- 

 nal segments are fairly cylindrical. The skin has a very translucent 

 appearance when the larva is extended, but when contracted to about 

 6mm., as it often is in rest, the skin has a very wrinkled look. There 

 is a strong lateral fold, but the segmental divisions are scarcely 

 marked. The skin is covered, that is, encircled transversely with 

 numberless lines of very minute hairs. The tubercles were difficult to 

 see (as the larva was excessively active), but they appeared to be in 

 the usual situations. They were small, simple, each with one bristle ; 

 the bristles being much longer on tubercle iv than on the others. The 

 spiracles were somewhat raised above the surface of the skin. The 



