I 



NOTES ON PHRAGMATOBIA FUI.IOINOSA. IHI 



due to some accident at the final moult, but as the only larva of Xfineo- 

 phila plantat/inis that I have ever found was of this form, and as a 

 somewhat similar but accentuated arrangement is normal, in the larvfe 

 of Si/ntomis phegca, the character may be atavistic. 



Cocoons. — Those made by the larva? of the first brood are somewhat 

 larger and denser in texture than those spun by the larvte of the second 

 brood. The size of those of the first brood is : — Length 22mm. -25mm.. 

 width 12mm. -16mm., those of the second brood have a length of 19mm.- 

 22mm., and are proportionally narrower. The position chosen for spin- 

 ning makes a considerable difference in the shape and the relative propor- 

 tions of the cocoons, those spun on the roof of the cage well away from 

 the sides and each other, tend to be deep and narrow, possibly owing to 

 the action of gravitation. In favourable situations the shape is an almost 

 perfect oval, and nearly as regular as that of Lasiocamjia ijiwirus, but 

 usually a trifle more pointed at the ends. A small amount of loosely 

 spun silk is used as a scaffolding or for stays while the cocoon proper is 

 spun. The cocoons of the second brood larvte are, as a whole, less 

 regular in shape and more flimsy in structure, and, in some cases, they are 

 so slight that the outline of the pupa may be clearly seen. The silk 

 of which the foundation of the cocoon is formed is comparatively thin, 

 formed of fine soft pale or white silk, but it is thickly felted with cast 

 larval hairs on its outer side, and the colour of the cocoons, ranging 

 from a paler to darker brown, is chiefly, if not entirely, due to the 

 colour of the larval hairs. In spite of this, however, a glance at the 

 interior proves that by no means all the larval hairs have been used in 

 its construction as the shrunken larval skin within is still thickly 

 clothed with hairs. 



Emergence of Imago. — The moth on emergence makes a small 

 opening at one end, the holes remaining wonderfully clear and sharp 

 as though they had been cut or the silk had been dissolved by some 

 solution. 



Pupa (from empty-case only). — The pupa, as frequently happens with 

 those of its allies, does not become entirely freed from the larval skin, 

 the last two pupal segments being hidden within it, and it is moderately 

 firmly attached, chiefly I think by the anal armature which is entangled 

 in some portion of the cast larval membranes. In shape, it is quite 

 typically a Spilosomid, being short, stout and solid-looking, with a 

 smooth and highly polished surface, which, however, upon examination 

 with a lens, proves to be minutely pitted, and from many of these pits 

 arise very small brown hairs. In colour the pupa is very dark brown 

 or black with bright red-brown or orange on the intersegmental 

 membrane, in an unemerged pupa (dead) the pale intersegmental 

 areas do not show at all, but I see that Newman mentions the pupa as 

 being " blackish, with paler bands," which leads me to suppose that 

 the intersegmental areas are visible, at any rate sometimes, in the 

 living pupa. The length of my specimen is about 16mm. -18mm., but 

 it is probably somewhat less before emergence, greatest girth some 

 6mm. -8mm. The sexual organs are tolerably clear but not prominent. 

 The anus ends abruptly and its armature consists of a small group of 

 tall slender curved-topped spines very closely set together, which fre- 

 quently, if not usually, are partly obscured from view by some portion 

 of the larval integument that remains attached to them after the cast 

 larval skin has been removed from the pupa. The wings, antenna? 



