GEOMETEA PAPILIONARIA, LINNE. 221 



Geometra papilionaria, Linne {in'th plate). 



By the Rev. C. R. N. BURROWS. 

 (Co7iclu(Ied from p. 205.) 



In dealing with the infant larva; of PJwroilesma smaragdaria 

 and Comibaena piistnlata, I believe I was treading upon fresh ground. 

 With Gf. papilionaria, I find this is not so. So long ago as 1888, 

 Professor Poulton in Trans. Ent. Soc. London for that year, pp. 592 

 et seq., published a paper on " The Protective resemblances of the larva 

 of Geometra papilionaria,'' and, later, at a meeting of the Entomologi- 

 cal Society of London, on February 2nd, 1893, he again called attention 

 to the young larva of this species, and, I believe, exhibited drawings of 

 the peculiar hairs with which it is adorned. This was, I believe, in 

 connection with forked hairs in lepidoptera generally, and had no 

 connection whatever with my particular investigations, i.e., the habit 

 of clothing in certain lepidopterous larvae. 



We seem now to have left the particular group, which we have so 

 far been studying, for, as we shall see, the larva of G. papilionaria 

 does not really clothe itself. We may, perhaps, pardonably, regard 

 the former species as low down in the scale of civilization, yet, as 

 having learned the desirability of clothing their nakedness, as we hear 

 some human savages do when they meet with civilized people. Then, 

 G. papilionaria is lower still. It represents, perhaps, the savage, who 

 dons an umbrella, silk hat, or a paper collar, on state occasions, 

 tentatively, questioningly, assertively, but well pleased soon to return 

 to the freedom of his original nakedness. I am prepared for some of 

 my hearers to object to this suggestion in the matter of develop- 

 ment, but it is the best theory I can evolve. I suggest it only as a 

 theory. Whether the clothed larvae or the naked ones represent the 

 more primitive form, I leave to the more advanced of my fellow 

 lepidopterists. I present to you my drawings of the early stages of 

 G. papilionaria, and I have provided a few prints also of my former 

 drawings, that you may have an opportunity of comparing the three 

 insects. 



When first I saw this larva, I was charmed, so beautiful do the 

 glittering hairs appear, when strongly illuminated under the microscope, 

 but, on further examination, I was greatly disappointed, for this 

 revealed the truth, that we have here to deal with a creature separated 

 from those previously examined, by the absence of special organs, such 

 as we observed in them. Here are no limbs — no pegs — (My former 

 simile fails me now). Perhaps the special organs are not, after all, 

 meant to secure the clothing. Perhaps the clothing may serve for 

 the protection of these special organs. But if so, what is their use? 

 However, here is the fact. The larv« with special organs, clothe 

 themselves, and those without special organs, do not, and that is quite 

 as far as I can go at present. 



If I continue to examine this group, I hope that I may not only 

 interest myself, but may help towards a more correct and rational 

 arrangement, by showing a closer relationship between species now thrust 

 apart on account of their imaginal differences, or may be, a greater 

 divergence between those placed together on account of their resem- 

 blances. It is sufRcient to state that a very cursory examination of the 

 freshly-emerged Im-xeioiHeuiithea striijata [thymiaria) removed from Geo- 

 September 15th, 1905. 



