LIFE-HISTORY OF LOPHOPTERYX (oDONTOSIA.) CUCULLA. 249 



Life= History of Lophopteryx (Odontosia) cuculla. 



By WILLIAM S. RIDING, M.D., B.A., F.E.S. 



I received a few ova from Buckinghamshire about the middle of 

 June. Colour, pearly cream-white with faint green tinge ; form, some- 

 what less than two-thirds of a sphere with flattened base of attachment. 

 Other ova laid by a ? bred from the above, in the middle of 

 August, are pearly pale green ; diameter, •9375mm.--95mm ; height, 

 •5575mm. --Gmm. ; surface, smooth. No depression about micropyle, 

 but small, irregular, straw-coloured clouds are distinguishable through 

 the shell-wall, about its usual situation. Some days before hatching 

 the ova showed dark brown streaks. 



Hatched June 26th-27th. Larva 2-25mm. in length ; head, pale 

 brown, half as broad again as body ; body, pearly cream- white, narrowest 

 posteriorly, tapering gradually from head ; tubercles i, ii, iii, iv, v, vi, 

 conical and prominent, each with a long, pale brown seta. A few of 

 the setae on the thorax are twice its breadth ; other setfe scattered 

 sparingly on the head. When alarmed, hangs by a silken thread. 

 Feeds on the parenchyma of the underside of leaves of sycamore or 

 maple. After two or three days the head becomes less disproportionate 

 to the body, and the segments of the latter are more marked, so as to 

 appear annular. The dorsal vessel shows as a dark line. June 30th, 

 larva preparing to moult, and on July 1st sheds its first skin. 



After first moult. — Head, pale brown, translucent, with darker 

 mouthpieces ; in form, annular, 4mm. in length ; colour, pale green, 

 translucent, with indistinct whitish dorsal and subdorsal lines; tubercles 

 conical, with single black seta from each ; spiracles very indistinct, 

 with no edging. The larva now eats through the parenchyma of the 

 leaf, making small holes. 



After second moult. — July 5th. — The two lobes of the head, brown ; 

 clypeus paler, and prolonged between the lobes to vertex ; form, less 

 distinctly annular; length, 5-25mm. ; colour of upper surface, whitish- 

 green, like underside of sycamore leaf ; subdorsal line, whitish ; under- 

 side paler, with yellowish tinge ; tubercles prominent, conical, shining, 

 in darker area ; prothorax, brown in front, with eight black tubercles, 

 two in the middle and three on each side; sette black, shorter; spiracles, 

 distinct but very small, edged with black. On the 8th abdominal 

 segment, a median hump, oval, bifid, each projection having four 

 tubercles with black setse ; a circular row of hooks on prolegs. Larva 

 growing rapidly. 



After tJiird m,oult. — July 8th.— Head, a little broader than pro- 

 thorax, pale brown, translucent. A purplish-brown line separates 

 clypeus from lobes on each side and vertex. On the upper part of the 

 lobes, above the ocelli and antennal tubercle, there are three conspicuous 

 purplish-brown tubercles with black setfe, forming a triangle with the 

 apex upwards. On the clypeus the setae spring from colourless tubercles, 

 three from each of the lateral and middle ones. Length, 8mm. ; colour 

 of upper surface, green with narrow purple dorsal line ; subdorsal line, 

 white; dorsal hump on the 8th segment bifid, the two apices red-tipped, 

 and separated by reddish -brown line, and the four black sette on each 

 spring from colourless raised tubercles. These represent tubercle i on 

 each side. Tubercles on thoracic i^egments raised, purplish-brown with 

 black setffi ; spiracular line ill-defined, white with yellowish-green 

 October 15th, 1904. 



