276 the entomologist's record. 



until the end of their existences as larvae. Indeed, when undergoing 

 ecdysis, if any members of the colony had succeeded in moulting first, 

 and had wandered off in search of food, I noticed that after a few 

 minutes their protective habit would reassert itself, and they would 

 hurry back to the main body on finding that their companions were 

 not ready to join them. When the bough on which they fed was 

 jerked the larvse would simultaneously raise their heads and front 

 segments after the manner of Sphingid larvae when at rest, and remain 

 in this posture for some time. This habit was, however, gradually 

 abandoned as they grew larger, though individuals persisted in raising 

 their heads when alarmed until the end. Perhaps the cause of the 

 change may be found in the adoption of another means of defence ; 

 for, on June 17th, when "Batch A" was in its fourth and penultimate 

 instar, I remarked that the overlapping and intertwined mass bore an 

 obvious likeness to a snake resting on the tree-stem, the large rust- 

 coloured spots on the backs of the larvae giving just the effect of the 

 carpet-pattern which adorns those of so many snakes. I wonder if 

 this resemblance protects the larvae of E. antiopa from birds ; if so it 

 would account for the constant gregariousness of this very conspicuous 

 caterpillar. 



The various instars of the larva of E. antiopa have been so fully 

 described by Scudder and others, that it would be superfluous for me 

 to attempt to treat of them anew. But the following note upon the 

 final ecdysis may be of interest. " The larva gradually lets go its hold 

 with all claspers but the anal pair and the pair immediately before these, 

 and, straightening itself out erect like the larva of a Geometer, moves its 

 head from side to side, the whole process of ecdysis seldom taking more 

 than three minutes. The body is now covered with a fine grey down, 

 but the armature appears at first only as inconspicuous points of pinky- 

 orange, growing after five minutes to oleaginous-looking, yellowish, 

 spines, which, however, are as yet not more than one-third of their 

 after length. In a short time they turn black, and grow so rapidly 

 that the larva, which is twisting about all the time, appears to be 

 pumping fluid into them, or inflating them." Their ecdysis completed, 

 the whole batches of larvae went on striking their heads sharply from 

 side to side at intervals. On June 24th, the larvae were crawling about 

 the butterfly-house in all directions, seeking for suitable places in which 

 to pupate, and the next day I found many already suspended. Unlike 

 the pupa of Eugonia polychloros, which almost invariably secretes itself 

 in the bushes of my butterfly-house, that of Euvanessa antiopa seems to 

 prefer the open, and I counted some two hundred of them, mostly under a 

 wooden ledge about two-and-a-half feet from the ground, in the south- 

 western corner of my cage. Though the greater number of these were 

 hanging with their heads pointing west or south, the proportion of 

 those I counted (54 to 31) was not sufficient to warrant any rule as to 

 their orientation. But I noticed that, when the suspended pupa hung 

 so near any object that it might strike against it when impelled by its 

 own wriggling, or blown by the wind, it always \&y with the head 

 turned towards it, not the projection on its thorax, as one might 

 perhaps have expected. 



I never saw the larva attacked by any ichneumon, but several of 

 the pupae were stung by a minute black fly which I have found also 

 attacking the pupa of Papilio machaon. When an insect of any kind 



