256 [April, 



The larva, when first hatched, is yellowish-ochreous in colour, with a faint, dusky, 

 suffused stripe down the back, and a sub-dorsal line of the same, the head deeper 

 yellow, the usual dots small and black : when it begins to feed, the food shows dull 

 green in the middle of the body, the rest remaining still ochreous, but it soon becomes 

 pale greyish-green all over ; when rather less than half- grown, it is greyish-gi'een 

 above, witli a dark green dorsal line, and a brownish stripe above the spiracles, all 

 below being yellowish-green or whitish-green. .When full-grown, the length is about 

 seven-eighths of an inch, the figure slender, uniform in bulk when viewed from above, 

 but when viewed sideways tapering towards each extremity ; the head nearly as wide 

 as the second segment, somewhat flattened, but the lobes with rounded outline. The 

 colour is variable above, the back being dull pink, lighter or deeper in tint, warm 

 brown or olive-brown ; the dorsal line is dark brown or blackish-green, sometimes 

 bordered with yellowish-pink ; the fine sub-dorsal Hne is yellowish on segments two, 

 three, eleven, twelve, and thirteen, on the rest being of a paler tint of the ground- 

 colour ; the space between the sub-dorsal line and the spiracles is filled up with two 

 dark stripes of even width, sometimes separated by a very fine pale thread, the upper 

 stripe being dull purplish-pink, pinkish-brown, or oUve-brown, the lower dull blackish- 

 green, or almost dull black ; just on the lower edge of this dark stripe come the 

 black spiracles ; all the under surface is pale yellow, palest immediately below the 

 spiracles, and with a paler line through the middle of the belly ; the head is yellowish 

 freckled with brown, the sub-dorsal lines showing on it free of freckles ; the anal 

 and ventral legs tinged with dull pink or purplish-jjiuk, the anterior legs more 

 yellowish ; the usual dots small and black, and bearing fine black bristles. I have 

 notes of one larva, in which the yellow lines on the back and sides were so much 

 widened, and the darker lines so narrowed, that the general effect was as if the back 

 were coloured greenish-yellow : another, a brown variety, had the sub-dorsal line 

 bordered above by a dark brown dash at the beginning of each segment, tlius pre- 

 senting the appearance of a dorsal pattern. 



The cocoon is very slight but regular in outline, formed just under the surface 

 of the sandy soil, and attached to a leaf or stem : the pupa is barely one-third of an 

 inch in length, cylindrical and full, stoutisli about the thorax, and with the abdomen 

 tapering off rather rapidly ; the eye-cases prominent ; the anal tip ending in a 

 conical spike, furnished with two sharp spines set like the sides of a V ; the colour 

 a rich, dark, glossy brown, the abdominal rings paler, with a reddish tinge. — • 

 J. Hexlins, Exeter : 10th March, lS7-i. 



Note on travelled ^jj^joce. — There seems to be an impression in some quarters 

 that pupte suffer from a journey. Having received large quantities by rail in various 

 years, I have found no greater loss in these than in pup£B dug near home. If sent 

 by post, more care and more cotton seem requisite than are often bestowed. But 

 the great danger to pupae is keeping them in too dry an air. The air of a tool-house 

 or cellar is more suitable than that of a living-room. Where pupae are enclosed in 

 a hard cocoon like some of the genus CucuUia, they arc apt to be more tender than 

 others, and to get bruised unless very softly packed. For such I recommend the 

 softest and best cotton, sometimes sold as medicated cotton by Chemists. One great 

 advantage of having pupa? sent is the chance of fine varieties, and the chance, 

 of course, of breeding from these. In an indifferent year like 1873, my good puprc 



