258 LAprii, 



mation on tliis subject will be obtained. Naturally differences of structure and in 

 the mode of pupation wiU be observed in diiJerent species ; so that inferences from 

 observations on one or two species might lead to error if generally applied. In de- 

 scribing the pupation of Qrapta interrogationis, Mr. Edwards says (p. 224), " It is a 

 wonderful exhibition, and the last act is beyond my comprehension, namely, the 

 rising of the chrysalis with no external aid save what comes from the ligament. I 

 can only state the fact." If, when the chrysalis is suspended by the ligament alone, 

 its tail is too short to reach the button of silk, it is evident these parts can only be 

 brought together in one (or both) of two ways, viz., by the lengthening of the tail, 

 or the shortening of the ligament. Whether or not the former contributes to the 

 results, it does seem that not only the ligament but the whole internal lining of the 

 caterpillar skin is elastic, or at least subject to shrink up, especially when exposed to 

 the action of the air. In making specimens to show the ligament, I found that it 

 was necessary not to pin it out at the full stretch it would easily bear at first, but 

 that it must be considerably relaxed, or it was sure to part in drying from its attach- 

 ment to the chrysalis. But that the tail of the chrysalis itself also increases in 

 length by a process ofc/rowth is also extremely probable. At the moment of exclusion 

 the anterior horn of the chrysalis of A. cardamines is a minute (ventrally) incurved 

 process, and it may be almost seen growing till in an hour or two it had attained the 

 complete size, when it is equal in length to the posterior horn. Mr. Edwards has noticed 

 and remarked upon this out-growth of the mesonotum of the chrysalis of interroga- 

 tionis (p. 224 ante) : at first, he says, " this organ is pressed down and flattened, but 

 in a short time, and before the transformation is completed, it swells out, and becomes 

 nearly as large and as prominent as it ever will be." What takes place in the meso- 

 notum of interrogationis, and in the anterior horn of cardamines, and probably more 

 or less in all parts of the chrysalis, need only take place to a small and not noticeable 

 extent in the tail of the suspended pupa in order to equalize its length with that of 

 the suspending ligament, itself perhaps shrinking up under the action of the air. — 

 J. A. OsBOBNE, Milford, Letterkenny : March, 1879. 



Description of the larva of MyeJois cribruin.- — On the 26th of April last, I re- 

 ceived through the kindness of Mr. John Wilson, of Bei'mondsey, a few larvce of this 

 species. Some of them were apparently almost full-grown, so I described them at 

 once, as follows : — 



Length, when at rest, about three-quarters of an inch, and, when crawling, quite 

 an inch ; rather plump, and of nearly uniform width throughout ; head highly 

 polished, considerably narrower than the second segment; body cylindrical, tapering 

 very slightly towards the anal segment ; the segmental divisions well marked ; there 

 is a polished plate on the second, and a smaller one on the anal segment; skin rather 

 soft, with a semi-translucent appearance ; a short hair springs from each tubercle. 



Ground colour a very pale olive-green, inclining to drab ; head and frontal plate 

 intensely black, the small anal plate not so conspicuously dark. A darker shade of 

 the ground colour, broadly boi-dcred on each side with dull whitish stripes, forms the 

 dorsal band ; sub-dorsal stripes white, but thei'e are no spiracular lines ; spiracles 

 round, they, and also the tubercles and hairs, are black. 



Ventral surface and prolegs very pale dingy greyish-green, the legs black and 

 polished. 



