1878.] 61 



tohich are loant'mg to it. Between two of these segments, as with a pair of pincers 

 the insect seises a portion of the folded skin, and tvith such a firm hold that it is able 

 to support the whole of its hodif on it. It now curves the hinder parts slightly, and 

 draws its tail entirely out of the sheath in which it was enclosed," &c. (The italics 

 are mine.) How this can be conceived possible, considering the utterly soft con- 

 dition of the newly-excluded pupa, and that the caterpillar skin is now " reduced to 

 a packet so small that it covers only the end of the tail of the chrysalis " {loc. cit.), 

 in which, moreover, there are no longer any free segments, I cannot understand. 

 On the other hand, it is very easy to show that the last and sufficient bond of con- 

 nection between the chrysalis and the old larva-skin is a membrane extending from 

 the lining of the latter to the anterior horns of the two lateral ridges hounding the 

 anal area of the chrysalis. I have prepared several specimens showing this mem- 

 brane still intact, and should be happy to forward one or two, if required, for 

 inspection. I find it in all three species of butterfly mentioned above, and I believe 

 it is to the persistence of it unbroken that is owing the continued suspension of my 

 chrysalides of Anthocharis. I have tested its strength to sustain the weight of the 

 chrysalis, and the time during which it resists desiccation and the writhings of the 

 insect, the obvious object of which is, not to get rid of the old caterpillar-skin, but 

 to rupture this membrane after the chrysalis has made good its tail-attachment to 

 the silk. J. A. Osborne. 



Milford, Letterkenny.] 



DESCRIPTION OF THE LARVA OF CIDARIA RETICULATA. 

 BY WILLIAM BUCKLEE. 



For some years Mr. J. B. Hodgkinson of Preston has endeavoured 

 to find the larva of this rare and local species, until at length, in 

 August, 1876, success attended his efforts, and, in 1877, he again 

 found the larva, and was lucky enough, during the summer, to prove 

 the identity of those found the year before, by breeding a specimen of 

 the moth, as recorded by him in this Magazine, vol. xiv, p. 67. In 

 both years Mr. Hodgkinson sent me a couple of larvae and occasional 

 vsupplies of the food plant, though, from an unlucky accident during 

 winter, I was unable to produce an imago from the first larvae, but 

 have now been able to breed a specimen on the 9th of this present 

 July. Mr. Hodgkinson's experience is somewhat different, as he tells 

 me he has bred only ten out of quite a hundred larvae. 



With this species there are more than usual difficulties to contend 

 with in rearing the larvae at any great distance from the growing food 

 plant, Impatiens noli-me-tangere, a native of woods bordering Winder- 

 mere; for this plant, when gathered, is quite unsuitable for transpox'tiug 



