174 THE entomologist's record. 



so many in number as were the hairs in the 1st skin. These tubercles 

 are present in all the subsequent skins, and are sometimes very large 

 and prominent, being so closely massed together on the oblique stripes 

 as to give these the appearance of ridges [tliis is very noticeable in 

 S. popuU in its 3rd skin] ; the hairs arising from them get gradually 

 smaller, and finally lose their bifid character. I could not trace any 

 forked hairs in the full-grown larvae. Mr. Poulton does not ]<ij any 

 stress on the change in the appearance of the larvaj after the first 

 moult ; he says that tubercles are present at the base of each hair 

 before as well as after the first moult. Possibly he used a higher 

 power than I did ; with a 1-in. objective I could not detect them, whilst 

 they were most conspicuous after the moult. 



I have ])een obliged, from want of space, to leave out the rather 

 lengthy notes I took of the larvae in each skin, but have embodied 

 them in the tables which I pass round.* 



S. til/'ae. — The full-grown larvaj of S. tiliae vary a good deal in 

 coloration. Some of mine had red blotches bordering the front of the 

 stripes ; one or two had red borders to all the stripes, others only to 

 some of them. 1 particularly noticed that the weak stripe (the 6th) 

 always came off worst, the blotch being either faint or altogether absent 

 from this stripe, even when it was strongly marked on all the others. 

 Another thing that struck me was, that the colour of the tubercles 

 persisted more than tliat of the surrounding surface, the yellow colour 

 showing up iilainly in the midst of the red blotches. It is probable 

 that these red blotches are remnants of an ancestral character similar to 

 the bright borders of the stripes in Sphinx lignstri. 



Just before pupation the colours of the larvae get dull ; in some 

 the l)ack darkens and becomes bronze-green or blue, the tubercles 

 showing up as bright specks. In the brood I reared, this change was 

 not general ; most of the larvae became dirty-white previous to going 

 to earth, and I found, when changing their food, that the dark ones 

 Avere much more easily passed over than the light ones. In their 

 earlier stages the larvae usually rest on one of the veins on the under- 

 side of a leaf, but in the later stages choose a twig or leaf-stalk for 

 the purpose. They seem to dislike the light and, when their food is 

 changed, get underneath the leaves as soon as possible. Ijime, elm 

 and hazel are usually given as the food-plants ; Mr. Barrett mentions 

 birch, and j\Ir. Symes once beat a larva from honeysuckle. 



S. ocdlatus. — The larva of S. ocellatus, when small, usually rests on 

 the mid-rib or on one of the larger veins of the leaf : it has a most 

 tenacioiis grip, and has also the power, like those of *S'. tillae and S. 

 lujustri in their younger stages, of droj^ping on a thread if by any 

 chance it should lose its hold. I first noticed the larva assume the 

 '■ Sphinx attitude " when in the 2nd skin. 



While examining a young larva from Norfolk, I noticed that it was 

 attached by the -itli pair of prolegs and the anal claspers only, and that 

 the other three pair of prolegs were withdrawn until they were flush 

 with the ventral surface of the body. I have since found that this 

 habit of retracting the prolegs not in use is characteristic of the larva 

 in all its stages. As the larva grows larger it rests, as a rule, on an 

 upright twig, which it gras])s with its anal claspers and with the last 



* We regret that we have not room to insert these interesting tables. — Ed. 



