82 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



large silken nests, on the same pine tree as I found the pupae, 

 and they are just like the cast skins that were with the above 

 pupae; and I took some more, in a fresh spot, on the 17th : 

 they are the most curious and eccentric creatures I ever 

 saw. I keep them in an open box, which they do not seem 

 inclined to leave ; and whenever they move about they 

 arrange themselves in the most perfect lines or processions, 

 generally singly; but this morning a large number of them were 

 moving about, four abreast, with the most perfect regularity 

 over the pine branches 1 have given them to feed upon, and 

 which they have already envelo))ed in a mass of very tough 

 white silk. They are of a grayish black ground colour, with 

 pale rings, arranged something like the rings on the larvae of 

 Carpini : these rings are clothed thinly along the sides with 

 long white hairs, and along the back they are thickly set 

 with tufts of short hair of a bright orange colour; the head is 

 large, black, round, and rather oily-looking. This is the 

 description of the largest, but they vary in appearance, as 

 well as in size. They are most voracious eaters, and consume 

 large quantities of .pine or Scotch fir. — T. Batchelor ; Yew 

 Tree Farm, Southhorough, Kent, February 18, 1874. 



PS. March 14. — The ])laces where I find these larvae are 

 some distance along the Penshurst Road : their head-quarters 

 is a wood of pine trees, called Ashew Wood, on a farm in the 

 occupation of my uncle ; the firs are now being cut down, and 

 I find these larvae on the top and upper branches of the fallen 

 trees. — T. B. 



Cnethocampa piiyocampa said to occur in Kent. — I shall 

 be greatly obliged if you will tell me the name of the enclosed 

 larva. 1 cannot find any description which at all accords 

 with them in your ' British Moths.' I found them on the 4th, 

 feeding in batches, under cover of a white web, on some fir 

 trees, on Seal Chart, about three miles from Sevenoaks. — 

 W. Peyton; Seal, near Sevenoaks, Kent, March 6, 1874. 



[I have printed these letters without altering a single 

 word, because I desire not to prejudice the case by any 

 opinion of mine. Mr. Doubleday has kindly given me 

 the name of the larvae. Both instalments are of the same 

 species: it is Cnethocampa pityocampa. It assumes the 

 pupa slate singly, on or just below the surface of the earth, 

 in a cocoon resembling that of the CuculUa. Mr. Doubleday 



