150 [December, 



in the middle of August last another consignment o£ eight larvsB from 

 Mr. Bankes, from which I made fresh descriptions. From them I 

 bred six cosmodacfylus, but no acantliodacfylus. The moths were bred 

 from the larvsD described, and on comparing my notes with those taken 

 the previous year, they corresponded so closely that I suppose all were 

 taken from cosmodactylus larvae ; the alternative being that we have 

 but one species under the two names ; or the differences in the larvae 

 must be so slight as to be almost imperceptible. As the acanthodac- 

 tylus I bred were the first specimens to appear, it is possible the species 

 may have been in advance of cosmodactylus, and that the larvae were 

 in fact nearly over when Mr. Bankes collected them ; but this year, 

 although he searched early, he failed to find an acanthodactylus larva 

 at all. It is now most necessary to have careful descriptions of larvae 

 which produce acantlwdactylus, or still better, to rear larvae from acan- 

 thodactylus eggs, and see if both forms of imago would be produced 

 from them. 



Length, about half an inch, and of the usual stumpy form when at rest. Head 

 small, and narrower than the second segment ; it has the lobes rounded and is highly 

 polished ; body cylindrical, attenuated a little posteriorly, each segment plump and 

 distinct, making the divisions clearly defined ; skin soft, and sparingly clothed with 

 short hairs. 



There are two very distinct varieties. 



In rar. I (which, judging from the larvse sent me, is the rather commoner form) 

 the ground-colour is a clear purplish-pink ; head very dark sienna-brown, almost 

 black ; the smoke-coloured dorsal vessel shows through as the dorsal stripe ; 

 sub-dorsal stripes clear white, and very conspicuous ; below them is a narrow and 

 interrupted white line, and another about the same width, but being tinged with 

 pink is not so pale, along the spiracles : hairs white. Ventral surface semi-translu- 

 cent, yellowish-grey ; pro-legs purplish-pink on the outside ; anterior legs of the 

 dark sienna-brown of the head, but with paler rings. 



In var. II the ground-colour is bright pale green, the markings same as in var. 

 I, except that the white stripes are scarcely so conspicuous ; in some specimens the 

 smoky medio-dorsal vessel is tinged with pink ; and the ventral surface and pro-legs 

 are of the same bright green as the dorsal area. 



Some few larvse of those received in 1884 were intermediate between the two 

 varieties. 



The pupa is attached to the food-plant by the tail, and two some- 

 what curved pointed protuberances, which spring from the back, give 

 it a curious appearance. As in the larva, there are two distinct 

 varieties, a purple form and a green form, but each having oblique 

 dark markings. 



In 1884, the first imago emerged August 2 1st, this year on 

 September 6th. 



Huddersfield : November ^th, 1885. 



