THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 135 



SOME NOTES ON THE LIFE-HISTORY OF lALMENUS 

 MYRSILUS, Dbl. 



The ovum. — Pale green, or pale blue-green, with well-marked 

 white reticulated covering over the whole surface, giving it the 

 appearance of being frosted when seen without the aid of the 

 lens. The egg is approximately hemispherical, with the basal edge 

 rounded off and the vertex sharply depressed. Average diameter, 

 0.93 mm. Deposited singly on bark. 



The pupa. — Uniform dark brown, resembling in shape the 

 pupa of Uypochryso2)s delicia, Hew. Length, 11 to 12 mm.; 

 breadth, 4 to 4.5 mm. Attached at posterior end to small web, 

 and supported by a fine belt round the body. The pupae are 

 usually found under old bark, and in cracks near the base of 

 Blackwood trees (Acacia melanoxylon), and occasionally in any 

 sheltered place higher up the tree. I have found them at 

 Camperdown associated with pupae and larvae of Ogyrts abrota, 

 about the roots of Mistletoe (Lorantlius) growing on Black- 

 woods. 



In cases where the food-plant affords insufficient shelter the 

 larvae often travel for many yards before spinning up on neigh- 

 bouring trees. About one-half of the pupae found at Gordons 

 were on eucalypt trees, under loose bark, usually, but not always, 

 near the ground. One lot of five was taken at about twelve feet 

 from the ground. Although the pupre are often found in numbers 

 together on the Blackwood trees, they do not seem to be 

 gregarious, as are the pupae of /. evayuras. Their clustering 

 together seems to be an accidental occurrence, due to the scarcity 

 of good shelter on the tree, rather than to ai^y well-defined course 

 of action on the part of the larvae, and this is borne out by the 

 fact that they are seldom found other than singly on the eucalypts. 

 Even when in clusters of nine or ten, there is no sign of a 

 common network of silk for the support of the chrysalides, as 

 with /. evagoras. Each has its own separate little net. Speci- 

 mens of these pupae were found m February, and again in 

 September and October. 



The imago. — The general description of this insect is too well 

 known to need repetition. In some specimens, of both sexes, 

 the upper surfaces of the wings, at and near the base, are lightly 

 dusted with bluish-green scales of the same tint as the little wavy 

 marginal line at the anal angle of the secondaries. The females 

 show some variations in the markings on the under side of the 

 secondaries. The marginal red band, and also the series of 

 black spots extending from near the middle of the costa across 

 the wing, seem very constant, but midway between these in some 

 specimens is a well-marked line of black spots parallel to the red 

 marginal line, beginning near the costa and terminating in a 

 larger spot near the anal angle. 



Of seventeen females, three have this characteristic well 



