SCIENTIFIC NOTES. 31 



in the boxes where they were hatched without troubling to offer them 

 any food until they changed their skins, and then put them into the 

 breeding cage. Describing the newly emerged larva, Buckler says that 

 "its length was 3/16 of an inch, even with the posterior segments and 

 filaments erect. In all respects, both as to form and colour, it presented 

 a complete miniature representation of the adult larva. The head, the 

 second, twelfth and thirteenth segments were dark brown, all the rest 

 of the body and legs of a lighter reddish-brown, the entire surface 

 very glossy." Moults : — Buckler mentions two eggs which hatched 23rd 

 July, larvEe moulted 28th, and again 6th Augnist (becoming then much 

 lighter than before), moulted yet again 29th August and spun up 17th 

 September. There is also in the Larvce of British Butterflies, etc., a very 

 full and graphic account by Mr. Buckler of the last moult of a larva he 

 was watching, which moult he describes as of a very protracted and 

 exhausting character. He noticed on the 3rd Sej)tember that the larva 

 had fixed itself on a twig, and that it gently lifted the fore parts of the 

 body up and down. Throughout the next day it rested with the first 

 and occasionally the second pair of ventral prolegs raised. Mr. Buckler 

 then describes the struggles of the larva during the moulting, on the 

 5th September, which commenced at 10.30 p.m. and ended at 12.50 

 a.m., a period of 2j hours. He states also that this last change of skin 

 always takes place at night. Adult Larva : — The adult larva is, I 

 expect, well known by every one in the room. A few points in its 

 structure however deserve notice. The anterior legs are perhai)s the 

 first things which attract attention. The front pair are short, and 

 appear to be used principally to guide the leaf whilst feeding. The 

 second and third pairs are very long, rather thin, but slightly swollen 

 at the joints, and when at rest are neatly folded back. I exhibit 

 these legs mounted. Tlie double humps on the back, too, are very 

 conspicuous, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 having these, but those on 8 and 9 are 

 more rounded than those on 5, 6, 7. Those on the last named 

 segments have at the apex a small spine or hook ; 5 and 6 have 

 each, in addition to the humps, a rather deeply cut crescent-shajied 

 mark on the sides, which shines in certain lights with a dark 

 iridescent green colour. 12 and 13 are much swollen and sjiread 

 laterally, and there is a series of small dark greenish-black raised 

 dots on the marginal line dividing the ventral from the dorsal 

 area. The tAvo anal filaments or tails are, like the crescent-shaped 

 marks, purplish-brown in some lights and dark green in others. The 

 adult larva may be said to be dimorphic — there is an ochreous-brown 

 form and a dark-brown form. Occasionally, however, you get one 

 intermediate in tint. The dark form is sometimes very dark, and has 

 a purplish tinge. On looking at a number of the larva?, the contrast 

 between the two colours is very noticeable. The Rev. Bernard Smith, 

 in his '' Notes on the Notodontida?," called attention to the dark variety. 

 The " Walsingham Collection " at the Natural History Museum contains 

 specimens of both forms. Food Plants of Larva : — From the number 

 of food plants given by various authors, fagi would appear to be a 

 general tree feeder. Stephens (Illus. of Brit. Entomology) gives beech, 

 oak, hazel, birch, lime, alder and sloe. The Rev. Bernard Smith (" Notes 

 on the Notodontida? "), oak, beech, hazel and birch, and says they 

 " have even occurred on wild rose and hawthorn," and states that it 

 " will thrive well on apple." Mr. Holland (Entom. Becord) mentions 



