1874.1 67 



^•ear Oil Nepeta cataria ; he had previously noticed that the perfect insects were 

 never found far away from that phiiit, and hence, suspecting that the larvae fed on it, 

 he searched for tliem with success. 



The larvoj (of the second brood) reached me on September 25th, 1873, feeding 

 on the mint flower-heads under a confused covering of silken threads, for their work 

 could not be called regular galleries ; and they continued to feed for about three 

 weeks ; then they spun up in very tough cocoons of pale brownish silk, but how long 

 they remained before turning to pupae I cannot say. I bred some moths between 

 the 16th and 23rd May, 1874, yet some little time after this date, viz., on June 11th, 

 Mr. Buckler, on examining some of his cocoons in order to obtain a pupa case, found 

 several larvae still unchanged though quite alive. Whether these will remain on till 

 the appearance of the August moths of the present year, or until the May brood of 

 next year, we have not of course yet the power of deciding. 



The full-grown larva is a little more than five-eighths of an inch in length 

 (perhaps it grows longer when at large, for all the moths we bred were small, showing 

 our larv£E had not attained full development), stoutest at segments eight, nine, and 

 ten, thence tapering very rapidly to the tail, and more gradually to the head, which 

 is the smallest segment ; the colour is a dull green on the back, the dorsal line being 

 of the same, only marked off with edgings of yellow ; the spiracular stripe broad 

 and yellowish, with a faint greenish line through it ; the head and second segment 

 pale brownish freckled with black ; below the spiracles a double greenish line ; the 

 belly pale yellowish ; all the usual dots distinct, being shining black and naiTOwly 

 ringed with yellow ; when full fed the larva becomes pinkish. 



There seems to be a variety whieh is all over pale greenish, with no darker 

 stripes or lines ; and another which has a pale blotch of yellowish ground colour on 

 the back of the twelfth and thirteenth segments. 



The pupa is cylindrical, slender, the abdomen ending in a flattened blunt pro- 

 jection, beset at right angles with some curled-topped spines. — Id. : \Mh July, 1874. 



Description of Ihe larva of Ayrolis (Xoclua) siihrosea. — On a turf-moss at Kurtcn- 

 hof, near Riga, where I used to collect along with Herr Teich (tlie discoverer of the larva 

 of Costnopteryx Lienigiella'), Agrotis subrosea, Steph., occurs sparingly from the 

 22nd July to the latter half of August, in company with Caiocala pacta, L., Luperina 

 Haworlhii, Curt., IFydracia nictitans, Bkh., &c. ; it is Staudiugcr's variety subccerulea 

 (the Agr. subrosea, Herrich-Schaffcr, figs. 51G, G22). 



At the end of May, 1870, I beat three of the larva; of this species in the evening 

 twilight from Andromeda polifolia, L. In captivity they also ate several species of 

 willow {iSalixfragili.<i,'L., S. alba, L., S. rosmarinifoliaj . Not being acquainted with 

 any description of the larva of this species, I here give one from the three larva; col- 

 lected by me at Kurtenhof. If tlie early stages of the typical English species are 

 known, a comparison with this description may help to show whether the variety 

 which occurs in Livonia and Finland should bo considered as a distinct species, or 

 remain only a form of the English A. subrosea. 



Diagn. : grey -brown, with a tinge of violet ; three pale violet-grey dorsal lines, 

 and one sub-dorsal line of the same colour; the spiracular line sulphur-coloured ; 

 head chestnut-brown ; second segment ferruginous ; anal segment violet-grey ; legs 

 cinnamon-coloured. 



