66 iAujfii«t. 



Description of the larva, Sfc, of Erastriafuscula.— To Mr. Ot. C. Bignell, of 

 Devonport, my best thanks are due, not only for kindly supplying me with the larva 

 of this species last autumn, but also for clearing up what had been the reason of my 

 failing to procure it before. 



One night in the autumn of 1857, the year in which I began collecting, I found 

 a twelve-footed larva walking on the ground, which spun up at once, and during the 

 next summer produced E. fuscula. Not having found it on its food, and seeing 

 that the books with one consent gave bramble as the food, for many subsequent 

 years I used to beat the brambles in tlie same locality, hoping to get more larvae ; 

 and when I could take the moths, I used to shut them up with bramble sprays in 

 order to try for eggs. But in neither case were my efforts successful, — and why ? 

 Last autumn, Mr. Bignell, whilst sweeping herbage at night, took several larvte off 

 a stiff grass, MoUnia coerulea, growing in damp places ; these, on examination, he 

 concluded to he fuscula, and this summer has proved his conclusion to be correct. 



The secret of our previous puzzle is now out ; one might have beaten brambles 

 for ever without finding a larva. 



The larvae came to me on September 10th, 1873, and spun up by the end of the 

 month ; the moths appeared during the last week of May, 1874. 



The full-grown larva is about three-quarters of an inch long, rather slender, and 

 even in bulk throughout ; the twelfth and thirteenth segments taper a little ; the head 

 full and round ; fully developed ventral legs on segments nine and ten, with rudiments 

 of legs on segment eight : in walking it is a semilooper ; the colour on the back is pale 

 yellow with a broad greenish pulsating dorsal vessel ; the sub-dorsal is a thin line of clear 

 yellow edged above with brown, and below with greenish ; the round black spiracles 

 placed on a thin reddish line ; anal legs sometimes purplish ; the usual dots on the 

 back blackish ringed with reddish ; the belly yellow, with its dots black. 



Some of the larvae have a more reddish tint, and have every line edged with 

 decided red ; with a brownish stripe between the lower edging of the sub-dorsal and 

 the spiracular line, and below this again a yellow line, then a red line, and the belly 

 dull, pale brownish. 



The cocoon is very firmly and neatly made of a thin coating of silk, stuck all 

 over with fine earth or sand, about four lines deep and two wide. Some spun among 

 moss, by lai-voe, which died, wore not so close or tough, and were both longer and 

 ■wider. 



The pupa is about five-sixteenths of an inch long, cylindrical, stoutish about the 

 thorax, the abdomen smaller and short in proportion, ending rather bluntly in a 

 spike set with several curled-topped spines ; the pupa skin very glossy, rich red- 

 brown ; the wing-cases more golden-brown ; the eyes blackish. 



By the kind help of the Rev. T. A. Marshall, I am able to add that the name of the 

 ichneumon, which was bred about the middle of April from some of the cocoons, is 

 Protelus chrysophthalmns. A saw-fly larva much resembling that oi fuscula in 

 colour, feeds with it on the same grass, but I have not found out to what species it 

 belongs ; and I shall leave some one else to guess which of the two is the first 

 wearer, and which the mimic, of the colours of their common dress. — J. Hellixs, 

 Exeter : 14^;* July, 1874. 



Description of the larva, (^'c, of Pyrausta punicealis. — For larvae of this species 

 I am indebted to Jlr. W. H. Harwood, who found them somewhat plentifully last 



