194 THE entomologist's record. 



The eggs are laid beneath the leaf in batches of fifty or 

 more, regularly disposed in close order like many species of 

 Arctia and Nocture. 



The newly hatched larva is a very delicate whitish scrap, 

 whose first duty is to eat up as much as his neighbours permit 

 of his egg-shell, and who is already prepared to drop by a 

 thread if alarmed. In PL VI., figs. 6-6a, the facies in which 

 he differs from a young A crony da is, perhaps, a little exaggerated, 

 and he certainly has not so much colour as there shown, though 

 a greenish tint soon arises when some food has been eaten. 

 They linger rather leisurely over their eggshells, apparently 

 waiting for the last member of the batch to hatch. I have 

 not found them (as Spilosoma does) eating any infertile eggs. 

 At length they commence to feed, which they do by ranging 

 themselves exactly side by side, and marching forward exactly 

 in line, in the manner of Pygcera biicephala — only even more 

 exactly and accurately. They only eat the parenchyma of the 

 leaf, leaving the upper surface and even the smallest ribs. The 

 larva is practically colourless, and only i^ mm. in length. It 

 looks rough and irregular from the large size of the tubercles 

 and has a large head, but the want of colour makes details very 

 difficult to observe, and it is generally cylindrical. Segments 

 4 to 10 have a small circular anterior trapezoidal tubercle and 

 a large curved posterior trapezoidal, which arches round the 

 anterior trapezoidal apparently in order, as it does, 'to occupy 

 all the dorsum except that taken by the small anterior trape- 

 zoidal. Then there is a large supra-spiracular, and an equally 

 large sub-spiracular tubercle, and between these two minute 

 (pre- and post-spiracular) tubercles. There is also, in these 

 segments, a remarkable feature suggestive of alliance with 

 Liparidiz, viz., — a minute dot in the central line, between the 

 posterior horns of the posterior trapezoidals. The other 

 segments do not possess this. 



The hairs are long, delicate, and colourless, the longest on 

 the posterior trapezoidal, a very short one on the pre-spiracular, 

 each tubercle has only one hair, except the supra-spiracular 

 which has three. It may be noted that the prolegs are 

 complete circles of about 14 hooks, the true legs have the 

 battledore palpus well-developed, and there is a chin-gland 

 which, when everted, is of very much the size and outline of a 

 thoracic leg but with a fine pellucid apex somewhat prolonged. 

 Except the brown tipped four-serrate jaws and black eye spots 

 the head is nearly colourless, and carries about five hairs on 



