1867.J yy 



one fright about them, however. One has heard of the grass growing under the 

 feet of a sluggard ; and it is a fact that during the winter, while they were resting 

 almost as motionless as the withered stalks of their food, two of my three larvae 

 became decidedly tinged with bright green ; and, on examination with a lens, I found 

 that this tint was caused by the young growth of a species of moss ! (Tortula — I'J. 



However, it luckily proved to be less than skin deep, and was without difficulty 

 got rid of at the first spring moult. 



When full-fed the larva is about an inch in length, following the imitaria type, 

 i. e., long, cylindrical, slender, and tapering slightly towards the head ; the skin 

 evenly ringed ; the head a little flattened above, and rounded at the sides. 



The colouring is so plain and dull in many of the Acidalia larvae, that one 

 fears a detailed description may give the idea of something much more ornamental 

 than the reality ; and yet it is necessary to give the little details, in order to show 

 how the various species differ. 



The ground colour of emutana, then, is a pale ochreous-grey ; the dorsal line 

 is a very fine whitish-ochreous thread, distinct at the beginning of each segment, 

 but soon almost extinguished by the union of the blackish lines which border it, 

 and which shade off towards the sub-dorsal line through a brown into the ground 

 colour, making the region of the back look darker than the sides : just at each 

 segmental fold there is a pair of brown or blackish wedge-shaped spots : the sub- 

 dorsal line is also a very fine whitish thread, edged below with a black line, which 

 is most distinct about the middle of each segment, whence also some very fine 

 oblique lines slope downwards behind each spiracle. 



The spiracles are black ; and just below them comes a sooty-brown line 

 shading off gradually into the pale grey of the centre of the belly. 



Of the two larvas which I retained for myself, one spun up against the side of 

 the flower-pot, covering itself with a thin but opaque flat web, into which it drew 

 a few bits of moss, &c. ; the other spun up on the sui'face of the earth in the pot, 

 forming an irregular oval cocoon as big as a horse-bean, and nearly covered with 

 fine bits of earth and grains of sand ; the pupae I did not examine until after the 

 exit of the moths. — John Hellins, Exeter, July 29th, 1867. 



A curious visitor at sugar. — I had " sugared " abundantly along the lovely 

 " Waters Meet" valley near Lynmoutb, N. Devon, on the evening of the 14th June 

 last, and, on re-visiting, eai'ly the ensuing morning, the scene of operations, found 

 at the foot of one of the trees a melancholy object for compassion and warning. 



The common bat {Vespertilio 'pi'pesin-ellus) lay in prosti-ate humiliation before 

 me, so far gone as to appear " tight "-ened even to death ! On attempting to lift 

 him, however, a rollicking, one-sidy flounder or two, accompanied by a hiccupy 

 squeak, afiirmed " all right " so unmistakeably, that, solemnly registering one more 

 vow against the Circean cup, I lifted him carefully by the collar of his coat, and 

 deposited him in the broad space made by the branches of a noble oak-tree, some 

 five feet from the ground, in order that he might recover and regi-et at leisiu'e and 

 in safety the ignoble example to which he had yielded, and the firmament from 

 whence he had fallen. On my return, some hours later, my jovial brother collector 

 had depai'ted — " nor in the cleft, nor near the rock was he." — Edw. Hopley, 14, 

 South Bank, Regent's Park. 



