LIFE-HISTORIES. 



337 



you get required shade. To ensure success in colouring larvae use 

 methylated spirit in place of water. This will dissolve, or partially 

 dissolve, any ordinary aniline dye. A few points worth noting are : 

 Always kill in spirits and leave larvte in as long as possible. Roll out 

 and insert on tube, then inflate to required size, leave for a minute or 

 two, then immerse in spirits until needed. This last process, to 

 remove any substance which may have collected on the skin, and also 

 to take out all possible water. Stove quickly whenever possible, and 

 only use your dyes after the stoving operation. By using methylated 

 spirit throughout, your specimens will have a nice velvety and smooth 

 appearance, free from any greasiness and glossiness ; also, the spirit 

 leaves the surface much better, and gives the colour a good hold of the 

 skin. A faint wash of green colour over the ventral surface of almost 

 every larva greatly improves the general appearance of the specimens. 

 If Mr. Bell follows the above methods he will find that greens can be 

 done very well and life-like. Maybe some other reader can further 

 assist in the matter of showing how to preserve the green colours which 

 are so fleeting under the action of heat. — David Rosie, 163, Hamp- 

 stead Road, Benwell Grove, Newcastle. 



Notes on Pyg.era anachoreta, Fabr. — From pup* obtained 



from the Rhine district, imagines emerged on June 27th, probably 



early in the morning. Pairing was obtained readily the same evening, 



moths remaining in cop. until the night of the 28th, when they separated, 



and the ? s commenced egg-laying almost immediately. Egg. — 



The egg, which is flat at the base and well rounded, is, when first laid, 



of a bright purple colour. After a day or so it turns reddish-purple, 



and is crossed by two transverse bands of a paler colour. These bands 



have their origin close together on the circumference of the egg, but 



separate soon, circling round the apex and coming near each other 



again on the opposite margin. The general appearance, at a casual 



glance, is that of a horseshoe-like mark. Later on, the egg turns again 



purple, the bands become indistinct, and, just before emergence, it is 



of an uniform dull black. Larva. — The first larva emerged on July 



9th, and fed up extremely rapidly on Sallx ca/iraea, the whole larval 



stage lasting, on an average, from 28 to 30 days. The young larvae 



lived in colonies between two spun-together leaves. Later on, however, 



probably owing to confined quarters, they fed free, only drawing leaves 



together when about to shed their skins. First inatar : The young 



larvae have a round black head. The body is light chocolate-brown, 



covered sparsely with fine hairs. The broad, greyish, dorsal band is 



interrupted on the 4th and 11th segments by the usual black patches 



and contams three fine stripes of the same colour as the body. Stuunid 



iustar (First moult July loth) : Head as before; body deeper chocolate, 



dorsal band more distinctly yellow, inclined to orange on last segment; 



black patches slightly elevated, stripes as before. Bordering the dorsal 



band is a row of yellow tubercles more distinct on anterior segments. There 



are also slight traces of yellow markings laterally. Bordering the black 



patch on the -Ith segment is a small, white, oblique dash. T/urd ijtstar 



(moulted July 19th) : Head round, shiny black; the colour of the body is 



still deeper brown ; dorsal band light yellow with much more prominent 



black patches, the anterior one having, on the outside margin on both 



sides, a small white dot, almost in same line with the bordering row 



of tubercles. These are now orange in colour, and, on the first two 



