1881. j 33 



NOTE ON THE EGG, AND SOME PECULIARITY OF STRUCTURE IN 

 THE LARVA, OF HIMERA PESNARIA. 



BY THE KEY. J. HELLINS, M.A. 



Early last December Mr. D'Urban put into my hands an ash twig 

 gathered by a laudable butcher's-boy, whose attention had been caught 

 by the appearance of a batch of eggs near the tip. I ought at once 

 to have known to what species these eggs belonged, but, luckily, did 

 not recognise them ; otherwise, probably, I should not have cared for 

 them, and should have missed making an observation which, I think, 

 deserves some notice. 



There were just 151 eggs, laid in nine rows, parallel with the 

 stem of the twig, in most beautifully compact and regular order, the 

 whole mass measuring rather more than f inch in length, and about 

 t 3 6 in width, and firmly stuck together, and to the bark of the twig, by 

 an abundant supply of shining light red cement. The shape of the 

 egg is cylindrical, set upright on end, about to inch in height, and tt 

 inch in transverse measurement ; the top is rounded ; sometimes the 

 cylindrical shape becomes somewhat hexagonal, from being squeezed 

 in so closely on all sides, the shell is glossy, with a slight roughness 

 round the top ; the colour dull pale green ; towards spring this changes 

 to a pale reddish-brown, and again four or five days before the larva 

 emerges to a blackish hue. The batch of empty egg-shells looks like 

 a piece of Lilliputian honeycomb. 



The first larva was hatched on April 13th, and the last that came 

 out about a fortnight later ; some died in the egg ; I think, however, 

 that the larvae at large were delayed this year by the cold nights, and 

 that none, probably, were hatched till the end of April : at least, the 

 larvae I have captured have been quite three weeks behind my larvae 

 reared indoors. 



The young larva is about tV inch in length, in colour dull black, 

 except the anal flap which is pale brownish, as also are the legs, tipped, 

 however, with black ; the usual spots palish brown with raised central 

 black dot emitting a short, finely-knobbed bristle ; as the larva feeds, 

 the colour grows paler, becoming a sort of dark olive, with pale lines : 

 one, which I set apart for observation, moulted for the first time just 

 a fortnight after hatching, and I noted that at this first moult there 



