18730 . 101 



The larvae were fed on female bircli catkins, and were very 

 sluggish in their movements. I made from them the following de- 

 scription : — 



The full-grown larva is five-eighths of an inch in length, thick and stumpy in 

 proportion, but thickest in the middle, the head globular and smaller than the second 

 segment, the segments and transverse folds well defined, all the legs tolerably developed ; 

 when the larva is stretched out in walking, the thoracic segments appear rapidly 

 tapering to the head, and the three last segments taper off, but not nearly so much ; 

 the ventral surface is slightly flattened. 



The ground colour is a deep rusty reddish-ochreous, and there is a pattern of 

 diamond figures on the back and sides as follows : — -down the back runs a row, one 

 diamond on each segment, the widest part behind the middle of the segment, and 

 the blunt ends meeting at the segmental divisions, this row is filled up with dusky 

 or faint blackish freckles, and is traversed by the dorsal line, which is darker 

 blackish ; next to this comes a row of diamonds in outline, with the widest part of 

 each coming at the segmental fold, the ends meeting just behind the middle of each 

 segment, where the dark dorsal diamond is at its widest ; and outside this is another 

 row, in which each diamond outline is contained within a segment, the ends meeting 

 at the folds, and the widest part extending from the dark dorsal diamond to the 

 spii-acle ; these two lateral rows by comparison are only outlines, though tlie ground 

 within them is in truth covered with freckles, but so faintly as to be scarcely notice- 

 able ; the usual dots are blackish, set in rings of the ground colour, the spiracles are 

 black, the segmental divisions pale ochreous ; the head rather dusky ; the skin soft 

 and velvety. 



The debris of the food was spun together loosely for a sort of cocoon ; the pupa 

 is barely half an inch long, of moderate bulk, the tip of the abdomen rather rounded 

 and furnished with several curled-topped spines ; the pupa case is finely punctated, 

 and with scarcely any gloss, excepting at the abdominal incisions, which are rather 

 shining ; the colour is blackish-brown, with the rings rusty-red. — W. B. 



Heeminia taesipennalis. 



My (W. B.) first acquaintance with the larva of this species I 

 owe to the kindness of Mr. H. Doubleday, who sent me one found at 

 night on sallow in Epping Forest on April 28th, 1868. It had sallow 

 and other kinds of food given to it, but did not appear to eat any- 

 thing, and on the 1st of May spun a leaf down to the bottom of its 

 cage, beneath which it pupated, after lining the cavity with a coating 

 of silk ; the moth, a fine specimen, appeared on the 15th of June. 



My next opportunity of studying the larva was moat obligingly 

 afforded me by Mr. J. E. Wellman on August 20th, 1871, who pre- 

 sented me with three examples of the summer brood, about three 

 parts grown, which had been reared from eggs, and were feeding well 

 on Polygonum aviculare ; by the 25th of the month they had all spun 

 up amongst the Polygonum, and the moths ajjpeared from September 

 10th to 11th. 



