398 LÉPIDOPTÉROLOGIE COMPARÉE 



sharply outlined by the subspiracular stripe, which pcçsists on 

 the last abdominal segments in this form just as in Iiirtaria. 



The legs are yellowish, with dark brown plates and black claws. 

 The area between them is yellow with a brown spot before and 

 after each pair. 



In arrangement, the primary tubercles are as before, but in paler 

 examples, irregularly clouded with purple, they tend to be paler 

 outlined. 



Variation of larva, 



The larvae are very variable and, as a resuit of their hybrid 

 origin, they may vary in the direction of either parent. As, ho- 

 wever, the chicf variations seen in hirtaria are toward the condi- 

 tions normal m pomonaria, the larvae are rarely so polymorphic 

 as in the larvae of hybnds denhami and harrisoni. The factors 

 then left as being responsible for the change in appearance, are 

 the tendency for one or more characters of one parent to be exag- 

 gerated in one individual while the rest are intermediate and the 

 development of the various suffusions of the ground colour to 

 which hirtaria larvae are so prone. Probably, of thèse two factors, 

 the latter is the more important; it yields many beautiful forms, 

 ornamented with various oblique stripes, depending upon the 

 manner in which the suffusions are connccted for their directions. 



Habits of the larvae. 



The very young larvae possess the gênerai habits of the group, 

 being greatly given to wandering. They f eed in the same manner. 

 As they grow older, their behaviour differs from the zonaria 

 hybrids and the Ithysia group generally, as they rest beneath the 

 twigs in the lea&er portions. They differ in this respect too, from 

 hirtaria larva;, which prefer to rest on a somewhat thick twig 

 just before a smaller one branches out. This is probably owing 

 to the fact that the purple coloration of hirtaria is more fitted to 



