THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 229 



more than probable, from the fact that copulation does not 

 take place till after midnight. The moths remain paired till 

 five o'clock in the morning, a circumstance the most remark- 

 able from the fact that the (British) species most closely 

 allied to this remain in copulation but a very short time. 

 The female does not begin to lay till the next day. The 

 number of eggs deposited varies between one and two hundred ; 

 they are of a pale brown tint, thickly covered with dark- 

 coloured down. The eggs hatch in the succeeding spring; 

 some in my possession hatched this year, on March 24th. 

 The larvoD feed on both whitethorn and blackthorn, but seem to 

 prefer the former in a stale of nature : they are generally full 

 fed from the 10th to the 20lh of June, when they may be 

 found on the road-side hedges in company with Neustria, &;c. 

 The larva3 are very variable, and strikingly handsome. The 

 cocoon of this species is composed of fine particles of earth, 

 and is lined inside with a coating of white silk : it is very com- 

 pact, resembling closely that of Poecilocampa Populi. — G. H. 

 Raynor ; Hazeleiyh Rectory, Maldon, Essex, Sept. 12, 1874. 

 Life-history of Liydia adustata. — The eggs were laid during 

 the third week in July ; the caterpillars were hatched on the 1st 

 of August. When full grown they usually rest in a straight 

 position along the stem of their food-plant, Euonymus P^uro- 

 piEus (common spindle tree), to which they have a marked 

 resemblance in colour. The head is slightly larger than the 

 2nd segment; the face almost white, mottled with reddish 

 brown, and surrounded by a band of very dark brown, which 

 becomes lighter in shade as it approaches the 2nd segment; 

 on each side of the head, in a line with the spiracles and 

 adjoining the 2nd segment, is a patch of very dark brown. 

 The 2nd segment is smaller than tlie 3rd, and the 3rd smaller 

 than the 4th, from which to the 11th the body of the cater- 

 pillar is of uniform size, and then decreases. On the anterior 

 dorsal area of the 5th, 6th and 7th segments there is a small 

 square brown patch, edged on both sides with white; this 

 marking occurs again, but very indistinctly, on the lOlh 

 segment. The sides of the 5th and 6lh segments are 

 ornamented with an irregularly-shaped patch of various 

 shades of brown, interspersed with small white marks. The 

 legs are brown ; the first pair of claspers, together with the 

 skin-fold above them, are also brown, the latter variegated 



