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THE ENTOMOLOGIST S RECORD. 



segment, on the lower side of the portion of the lateral flange, was 

 doubled, and I am still confident that it is so in the specimen under 

 examination. This seems so unlikely, that I have concluded I must 

 have seen shadows, or had before me a larva on the point of changing 

 skin, and have therefore deleted the twin hairs from the plate. Here 

 also I have drawn the 1st abdominal segment to a larger scale (fig. v), 

 to help a clearer perception of the arrangements. 



My third figure (fig. vi) represents, I believe, the larva at the point 

 of changing its skin from the second to the third stadium (the hyber- 

 nating instar). This is evidently not the first instar, and cannot be 

 the fourth. The general arrangements are the same as in the last 

 figure, the only difference being that the body is extended and relaxed. 

 It gives, therefore, a clearer idea of the true shape. I drew this figure 

 with the intention of indicating the next skin within, but have desisted, 

 lest I should confuse what I have already drawn. There is a great 

 difficulty in distinguishing the outer from the inner skin. However, 

 as its stands, I think it exhibits well the fact that the white objects are 

 not thrown off with the skin, while the hairs and balloons are. I 

 cannot see whether these reappear in the same form on the new skin. 



By a happy chance one of my mounts of the third stadium shows 

 the dorsal surface, so I have taken advantage of the opportunity to 

 draw the thoracic (pi. ix., fig. viii) and the 5th abdominal segments 

 (pi. ix., fig. ix) to show the disposition of the white objects, spicules, or 

 whatever they may be, at this stage. Mr. Bacot points out to me that 

 they are very much more symmetrically arranged than in Geometra 

 papilionaria, and are, as we have seen, in parallel lines, along the 

 length of the body. The effect, when viewed under the microscope as 

 an opaque object, is very beautiful. These sketches also show the 

 arrangements of the balloons, and it will be noticed that there are no 

 T-shaped, or heart-shaped, or crocus-shaped hairs. 



The bifid head is plainly shown, or rather the bifid front of the 

 1st thoracic segment, with the bifid head beneath. When alarmed, 

 the larva tucks its head down and presents these points to the enemy. 

 The position of the thoracic spiracle still seems to me strange, partly, 

 of course, by reason of a certain amount of flattening in the mounting. 

 But all the same my observations show it as still thrown very high up 

 on the segment. 



I think that all will agree with my suggestion that the usual 

 position of Hemithea aesticaria in our systematic arrangement deserves 

 reconsideration ; I do not believe in arrangement by one detail, 

 be it nervures, antennae, foodplant, or colour. Angulation of the 

 lower wings in this case may provide something to go upon, but surely 

 when H. aestivaria comes forth from the egg it deserves a place 

 between Geometra papilionaria on the one hand, and Phorodesma 

 smaragdaria and Comibaena pustidata on the other. 



[The foodplants of Hemithea ^estivaria. — I have, since writing 

 the above paper on Hemithea aestivaria, had an opportunity of testing 

 the suggestion that it is not a consumer of low plants, e.g., thyme. 

 I offer the following observation for what it may be Avortb, without com- 

 ment for the present. A batch of ova of the species hatched upon August 

 10th, 1907, and the larvae were fed to the second stadium upon hawthorn. 

 On the 27th, twelve of these larvae were transferred to a box, in which were 

 contained leaves (carefully selected and free from previous injuries, 



