210 



THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



and rounded base. There are from eighteen to twenty longi- 

 tudinal keels, some rising just below the crowli, where they form 

 a ridge, above which are angular projections ; the surface be- 

 tween the keels is very finely ribbed transversely ; the micropyle 

 is very slightly sunken. The whole structure is irregular and 

 asymmetrical. The colour when first laid is a bright clear 

 yellow, which gradually becomes rather duller ; on the fourth 

 day it is speckled and blotched with pale reddish brown — these 

 gradually deepen into rust-red ; afterwards it assumes a deeper 

 drab hue, and finally the young larva shows plainly through the 

 delicate shell, and hatches on the eighteenth day. The larva 

 makes its exit by eating away the crown of the egg. 



Eggs laid July 6th hatched July 24th, remaining eighteen 

 days in the egg state. 



Directly after emergence the larva measures 2 mm. long. 

 The head is large and rounded, the surface rather deeply punc- 

 tured, the clypeus very finely outlined ; about two dozen minute 

 brown warts are scattered over the surface, each emitting a short 

 whitish bristle ; the eye spots are black and brown, the mouth 

 parts ochreous and dark brown ; a few longer curved bristles 

 surround the mouth. The colour of the head is pale ochreous, 

 the punctures rather darker. 



The body has the first segment larger than the rest, and 

 gradually tapers to the anal extremity. The surface is finely 

 granulated, of a very pale yellowish buff, rather yellower over 

 the ventral surface. There are in all seven longitudinal orange- 

 tawny lines, one medio-dorsal and three on either side above the 

 spiracles. The segments rather deeply subdivided, and have 

 each a number of shining black warts, each bearing a short, 

 curved, whitish, thorn-like spine, three above and two below the 

 spiracle on each segment. The spiracle is black and shining 

 also. The legs and claspers are unicolorous with the body. 



Directly after it has emerged it eats a large portion of the 

 empty shell, which forms its first meal. 



Before first moult, when nineteen days old, it measures 4 mm. 

 long; it is then rather stoutish about the fourth segment, 

 whence it gradually tapers posteriorly. The colour is green, 

 with darker green longitudinal stripes and a subdorsal and sub- 

 spiracular white stripe, the dark stripes being the orange ones 

 before feeding. The head remains unchanged. 



It feeds principally at night, resting on the grass-blades 

 during the day in a straight attitude, and falls to the ground at 

 any disturbance. It is exceedingly sluggish in its movements. 

 The first moult takes place about the end of the first week 

 of August. 



Shortly before second moult it measures 6 mm. long. The 

 colour is a pale green ; a medio-dorsal darker green line ; a 

 whitish subdorsal line, bordered on either side by a fine darker 



