GEOMETRA PAPILIONABIA, LINNE. 223 



colour varies from a bright yellow, through pale pink, and then purple, 

 to a dark livid hue. In one or two instances, the young larvfe can be 

 seen through the semitransparent egg-shell. The larva eats a small 

 hole at the micropylar end, but does not, in my experience, eat the 

 shell after emergence. 



Larva. — First imtar (Plate viii., fig. ii) : Eather short and thick, of 

 even thickness, head not appreciably wider than the thoracic segments. 

 The skin of the larva is much Avrinkled transversely, it is dark-coloured, 

 and shoAvs no stripes or other distinctive markings. The primary 

 hairs (sette) are very specialised, and widely forked. The larval 

 movements are slow and sluggish. Head rounded, pale brown 

 mottled with darker, in some cases nearly black, surface dead, and 

 with short, stout glandular hairs of a whitish colour. Body brown in 

 colour, skin much wrinkled, and with a noticeable coat of coarse 

 spicules. It is of even thickness, with only a short taper forwards 

 on thoracic segments to head. The 1st to 5th abdominal segments 

 are slightly lengthened, the others are of about even length. The 

 incisions are well marked. There are four subdivisions to the 

 abdominal segments, the first and last of which are longer than the 

 central ones. The body is not cylindrical, a marked lateral flange 

 being present. The anal claspers are Avidely spread. The hairs on the 

 head, scutellum, and anal plates, are more or less simple and tapering, 

 either blunt-ended or only slightly knobbed, but, on the abdominal seg- 

 ments, the primary setaB i, ii, iii, iv and v (except iv on the 6th abdominal 

 which bears a simple tapering, but rather long, hair, Plate viii., fig. 1e) 

 are forked (Plate viii., fig. 2c). This is especially marked on the dorsal 

 area, the forks on these hairs being quite as long as the hair is high, 

 the stem being very short. The forks point anteriorly and posteriorly 

 respectively. On the abdominal segments, i and li are placed 

 trapezoidally, iii is very far forward, iv and v are on the lateral flange 

 Plate viii., fig. 2/'). The marginal tubercles do not bear forked hairs, but 

 tapering glandular ones, with open or trumpet tops. On the meso- 

 and metatlioracic segments the hairs are set in transverse line 

 dorsally, and all the hairs (Plate viii., fig. %l), are of similar character to 

 those on the marginals of abdominals egments. I notice, in two larviB 

 which I have under observation, that a number of silk threads are spun 

 from hair to hair, after the manner of stretching cotton on small pegs, 

 stuck into a flower-bed to protect seeds from birds, and that some of 

 tha middle segments have on their lower lateral or ventral surface, 

 small fragments of frass (?) or other dirt attached to the silk. 

 Whether this is done purposely or accidentally, I cannot say, but the 

 stretching of the silk hairs must have been purposeful at one time or 

 another. At the moult, one larva had a large amount of dirt and 

 small fragments of sawdust attached, and, as it was then high up on 

 the foodplant, it must have either fallen or wandered previously to 

 taking up its position for the moult, as the sawdust was on the 

 bottom of the glass jar in which the larvns were kept. This same 

 habit or accident was not observed in all the larvfe, or, at least, not to 

 the same extent, but it must be of common occurrence as I noticed the 

 same fact when rearing the species in 1898. Before the moult, the 

 larviB are marked with an obscure pattern, consisting of whitish streaks. 

 Second inxtur (Plate viii., fig. iv) : The larva now tapers somewhat 

 from the 8th abdominal segment, or thereabouts, to the head. The anal 



