TRIFID^E. 7 



blotches, which in some instances assume the form of a thick 

 clumsy X, or a pair of curved blotches, on each segment; 

 subdorsal and spiracular lines to be distinguished rather by 

 the absence of the blackish -brown freckles than by any 

 decided line of another tint ; spiracles small, black, and 

 shining ; the whole body covered with very fine silky hairs 

 of a beautiful golden-brown ; undersurface paler than the 

 back, and somewhat tinged with green. 



When just hatched the young larva is of a semi-transparent 

 purplish tint with shining brown head and the usual dots 

 black and distinct, each emitting a long wavy whitish hair. 

 The first food eaten is the empty egg-shell, but as soon as 

 leaves begin to be consumed the larva becomes pale green. 

 After a few days it changes to brown, and the hairs appear 

 golden in the sunshine; after another moult the general 

 colour becomes darker brown, and the transverse rows of 

 raised dots appear to the naked eye like dark bands. When 

 about three-fourths of an inch in length it assumes a waxy, 

 shining appearance, with the head and collar shining black ; 

 after the next moult it is nearly black all over, but this does 

 not last ; in a day or two the skin becomes paler and of an 

 ochreous-brown, with rather paler dorsal, subdorsal, and 

 spiracular lines ; the head dark brown ; a dull dark brown 

 plate on the second segment, and another on the tip of the 

 anal segment ; raised dots black and distinct ; the oval 

 blotches on the dorsal region visible or replaced by oblong 

 dots ; the hairs brown, very fine and silky. It is not till 

 near full growth that the darkness of the dorsal and anal 

 plates, and of the raised dots, disappears and the adult 

 colouring is assumed. (Adapted from a description by the 

 Rev. J. Hellins.) 



April to June on plum, sloe, apple, knot-grass, dandelion, 

 and apparently other trees and low plants. Mr. E. R. Bankes 

 found that larvae, which he was feeding up upon dandelion, 

 eagerly seized upon an opportunity of devouring dead and 

 dried alder leaves; while Mr. W. Holland discovered that 



