1872.1 93 



of latotliat I liave had to caiTy on m\ investigations with a single larva out of a 

 numerous brood, that perliaps I ought not to blame the weather so much as some 

 fault of my own, — possibly my bungling may be one link in the chain of causes 

 wliich work together in the natural selection of the individuals, whose looks and 

 doings get chronicled in this Magazine. 



My one larva oiimhutata grew slowly, feeding on Vaccinium vitis-idcBa at first, 

 and afterwards on V. oxycoccos, kindly sent me by Mr. Birks, until June 16th, when 

 it spun up ; the moth appeared July lOtli. 



The egg is not remarkable ; it is of an obtuse oblong shape, flattened, with 

 scarcely any gloss on the shell, which is neither reticulated nor pitted ; the colour at 

 first pale yellow, afterwards deeper yellow, and not changing much again wheii the 

 larva is near hatching. 



The young larva is dull yellowish or greenish, with a j^inkish head, and with fine 

 dorsal, and broader sub-dorsal brownish lines ; as it grows, it becomes of a tender 

 greenish-yellow, and the lines more reddish, assimilating in tints to the young leaves 

 of the food-plant, with their reddened edges and tips ; afterwards, by degrees, the 

 whole back of the larva becomes brownish, leaving the under side still yellowish. 



The length of the full-grown larva is not quite five-eighths of an inch, the figure 

 somewhat stoutish, uniform in bulk throughout, but its habit of holding the head a 

 little downwards and folding all the anterior legs close up to it, gives a clubbed 

 appearance to the thoracic segments when seen sideways, the back of those segments 

 being arched or humped up ; the colour all over the back to near the spiracles is of 

 a rather deep browmish-red, with a very fine dorsal and sub-dorsal line of blackish- 

 red ; along the spiracular region is a broad, brilliant yellow stripe, separated on the 

 thoracic segments from the red above by a black edging, but this only appears faintly 

 ! at the segmental folds for the rest of its length ; this broad yellow stripe is blotched 

 at the folds between segments 6 — 10 with beautifully softened blush-like spots of 

 red, the black spiracles standing in the clear yellow spaces ; below this, comes a line 

 of blackish-gi'ecn, very fine on the thoracic segments, undulating in its course, and 

 thickening at the folds, becoming gi-adually tinged with red, till at the tenth seg- 

 ment it is a red stripe ; the belly is pale greenish-yellow, with a central paler line, 

 bordered by darker lines ; tlie head is dull pinkish-red on the top, paler than the 

 colour of the back, becoming paler still near the moiith ; the ventral legs are 

 pinkish-red ; the anal legs brownish-red like the back, with a yellow line down 

 them ; the usual dots are small in size, yellow, ringed with brown. 



From the look of the young larvaj, I was led to believe that, had I reared more 

 than one example, I should have seen some variety of coloviring. 



When I foiuid my larva ready to change, I put it into a large chip box, with 

 about lialf-an-inch of fine loose soil, and it spun its cocoon under this, attaching it 

 to the bottom of the box ; the cocoon is very weak, being formed of particles of soil 

 spun together with not much silk ; the pupa is slender in form, three-eighths of an 

 an inch in length, the head-piece distinctly shaped, the antenna-cases ending in a 

 little bifid projecting knob or spike, the skin shining ; the colour of the head and 

 wing-case was probably somewhat olive-brown when the insect was within, the 

 abdomen of a moi'e reddish-brown. 



The imago I bred was i"athcr small, but most beautifully coloured. — J. Hellins, 

 Exclcr: Aurjiist 8th, 1872. 



