450 THE BUTTERFLIES OF NEW EN(tI.AND. 



ever, records a similar case in a larva observed in the house. This is a 

 curious instance of instinct on the part of the caterpillar, of which Mr. 

 Edwards (loc. cit.) gives another : A larva just past the first moult 



Was placed on one of tlie second pair of leaves [from the top], and it closed the 

 edges without biting the midrib, until it had gone one-third tlie length of the leaf, 

 when it returned and broke the midrib, and also ate the two holes at its base. We 

 may suppose that the larval mind at fii-st decided that the leaf would come together 

 [at the edges] without the rib being brolven ; and second, discovered that this was a 

 mistake, Avhereupon rectification was made. At all events, that is what a human arch- 

 itect would have done. 



The duller under surface of the leaf being brought into contrast with 

 the upper by the construction of the nest, it is rendered somewhat conspic- 

 uous ; and the drooping habit induced makes it still easier to discover in a 

 nettle patch. 



Generally a large number of caterpillars may be found upon a single 

 nettle patch or even upon one plant ; but it is in no proper sense gregari- 

 ous, as stated by Miss Middleton (10th Rep. ins. 111., 86), but on the con- 

 trary strictly solitary, though instances have been known of more than one 

 caterpillar in a nest, — undoubtedly a pure accident. 



When the larva is disturbed, as for instance by the crawling of another 

 caterpillar on the outside of the leaf, the lord of the manor signifies his 

 disapproval and alarm by running from one part of his enclosure to 

 another, wao-g-ino; his head violently so as to strike the side of the leaf or 

 some of the connecting threads and thus jolt off or frighten away the in- 

 truder ; the blows effect quite an appreciable jarring of the leaf. 



I am indebted to Miss Guild and to Messrs. Angus, Clapp, Lintner, 

 Saunders, Sprague and Verrill for living specimens of this caterpillar. 



Pupation. The caterpillar suspends itself in almost any place where 

 it can hang, and even frequently undergoes its transformations, as Bois- 

 duval long ago observed, within the leaves that have served it for shelter. 

 This was doubted by INIr. Edwards as he had never met with such a case, 

 but his objections were afterwards withdrawn, on receipt of specimens 

 from Mr. P. Laurent, who in a short time had found no less than one 

 hundred and twenty-five chrysalids in such cases, the condition of which 

 was such that it was evident that the caterpillars had taken their last meal 

 from the leaf which served this double purpose. Nevertheless it is com- 

 paratively rare, more substantial supports being sought. Nor, on the 

 plant, does it always change within its final larval nest, but sometimes 

 forms from a single leaf a hood, like that made by the larva of Pol. 

 comma, but without biting any part of the leaf, midrib or stalk, merely 

 fastening beneath the midrib the opposite edges of the base of the leaf, 

 spinning a web within and hanging itself within the open enclosure. When 

 it has suspended itself in preparation for its change to chrysalis, the body 

 of the caterpillar is curved upward so a« to bring the jaws and all the 



