tm.] 219 



The situations and modes of concealment of larvae vary considerably, even in 

 individuals of the same species, according as they happen to be feeding, moulting, 

 or reposing, some remaining attached to their food, others forsaking it at times to 

 shelter elsewhere, the latter being the rule with the largest proportion of night- 

 feeding Noctuce. 



Of Butterfly larva some, as those of the well-known " garden whites," feed and 

 repose openly and exposed upon their food-plants ; others, which are more or less 

 onisciform in shape and gi-een in hue, generally attach themselves in repose to the 

 mid-ribs on the under-sides of leaves, where they should be sought for on their 

 special plants ; a third set conceal themselves when at rest under the lower leaves 

 of their food-plant, or on neighbouring objects ; while the gregarious larvae of some 

 of our Vancssidce remain more or less hidden in their webs. 



Spliinx larvcE : some of these feed openly, and usually hold firmly to their 

 positions, not forsaking their food while resting; I may instance those of the 

 Smerinthi ; others, as the larvse of A. atropos and 8. convolvuU, hide away under 

 sods, &c., when not occupied in feeding ; but the internal wood, bark, and stem- 

 inhabiting Sesiidce, of course, do not quit their tunnelled habitations. 



Bomhyces have various habits in the larval state, some, as the low-plant-feeding 

 "tigers" and "ermines," feed openly in the day-time, and especially during the 

 hours of morning sunshine, hiding away under leaves, sods, stones, or amongst 

 rubbish, when not so engaged ; some clinging closely to stems, twigs, or leaves ; 

 several colonizing in webs, and a few feeding internally, &c. 



Oeometra larvae, whether feeding, reposing, or moulting, usually remain fixed 

 to some part of their food-plant, as also do the Pi^eudo-bombyces ; those of Clostera, 

 however, spinning together leaves as a means of protection and concealment. 



The larvce of Noctua> are more inclined to roam when they are not exerting 

 their masticatory powers ; on such occasions they may not unfrequently be found 

 sheltering under stones, logs, sods, rubbish, loose bark, in the chinks of bark, 

 amongst dead leaves or ground herbage, in cut-oflF stems of reeds, and sometimes 

 below the ground, those of Leucania littoralis, Agrotis ripee and prcscox, actually 

 burrowing to the unusual depth of seven or eight inches in the sand ; others agEiin 

 live between leaves, as Cymatophora, Tethea ; in catkins, as young Xanthice ; in 

 capsules, as Dianthacite ; a third class feeding openly and in the bright sunshine, 

 as the CuculUas; and, while not a few, as the genera Nonagria, Hydnecia, Miana, 

 Ac, are to be met with in the stems of Graminacece, Cyperacece, Cynarocephalew, 

 and other families of plants, Bryophila constructs artful lichen-covered places of 

 retreat, and so on. 



The instinct and skill frequently displayed by larvae in selecting such situations 

 as will, from colour or form, render them less open to obervation is at times re- 

 markable, and necessitates very careful searching on the part of the hunter ; he 

 will, however, be most materially assisted in his search by blowing upon the branch 

 at first gently, and with net held beneath, for such larvae as drop under this kind 

 of treatment; and afterwards more forcibly, by which the tightly-holding larvae 

 are compelled instinctively to curl up their segments, erect themselves, or otherwise 

 alter their postures, and so, perchance, betray their presence. 



Examples of caterpillars "mimicking" difierent portions of their food .and 

 other objects are b}' no means of uncommon occurrence. That of S. populi greatly 



