1866.] 263 



Description of the larva of Nemoria viridata. — Last sumraer, Mr. McLachlan 

 kindly sent eggs of this species to Mr. Buckler and myself, and we were successfdl 

 in rearing several larvae. I should not, however, have said anything about them 

 had they not been of a variety differing considerably from that to which the des- 

 cription by Borkhausen in Stainton's Manual must refer. 



The larvae were hatched on June 30th, being then of a saffron-yellow colour. 

 They chose for their food whitethorn, especially preferring the young pale summer 

 growth, and the tender shoots thrown up from stems cut off close to the ground. 

 That they should make this choice, and thrive on it, seems strange, for I have 

 generally observed that the summer growth of trees and bushes is not such 

 wholesome food for larvaa as the older firnier foliage. 



Some of this batch of viridata escaped, and I afterwards captured one of the 

 runaways feeding on a withered poplar leaf; but this was evidently only from 

 starvation, and the larva never recovered sufficiently to become a pupa. 



The remainder of them were full-grown about the last week in August, being 

 then about f-inch in length. In form, they were rather slender, somewhat 

 flattened, and tapering towards the head ; the head and second segment acutely 

 bifid ; the anal segment ending in a pointed flap ; the whole skin rough with fine 

 granules. 



The ground colour was either a full clear green, or a yellow-green ; the granules 

 of the skin whitish ; the points of the head and second segment red ; a purple-red 

 stripe down the back, or, in some individuals, this was interrupted on the middle 

 segment, and, with some small whitish dashes, formed five acute diamonds ; the 

 sub-dorsal line whitish ; spiracular line yellowish or whitish-green, in some speci- 

 mens having in it small purplish spots on eighth, ninth, tenth, and eleventh 

 segments ; the belly with sub-spiracular and central pale lines ; the true legs 

 light red. 



In habit, these larvae were quiet, generally resting in an extended, rigid 

 posture. About the beginning of September, they drew the leaves of their food 

 together with a few threads, and changed to pupae, rather truncated in front, but 

 slender and pointed behind ; colour, a dull pale ochreous, head and wing-cases 

 dusky, with a faint tinge of olive-green ; a dark line down the back ; the spiracles 

 showing black, and two short dark lines along the belly. — Eev. J. Hellins. 



Description of the larva of Corycia temerata, 8^c. — This species occurs in this 

 neighbourhood, flying in May and June near wild cherry-trees, or along black-thorn 

 hedges, and I have once or twice succeeded i-n rearing it from the egg. 



The $ s certainly prefer to deposit their eggs in the crevices of the bark of 

 their food-plant, or at the axils of the small shoots ; and if they have not the oppor- 

 tunity of doing so, will lay but sparingly, or even refuse to lay any eggs at all. 

 The larvae are hatched in about fourteen days, and are at first of a deep yellow 

 colour ; they soon change to green, and after a time put on a broadish dorsal stripe 

 of pale yellow ; this, at the last moult, changes to the dorsal row of bright red 

 spots, which, contrasting with the rich velvety green of the ground colour, make 

 the larva so handsome to look at. The only variety of the larva I ever saw, 

 I captured on black-thorn, in August, 1863 ; it was of a pale bluish-green ground 



