198 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



for the opportunity of doing so I liave to thank Mr. John 

 Harrison, of Barnsley, who gave rae a dozen larvae on the 4th 

 of September, 1875; and finther sent nie a supply of eggs on 

 the IDth of July last. The egg is large for the size of the 

 moth, is oblong-square, wiih the edges rounded, and 

 considerably depressed on the upper side ; the colour at first 

 pink, afterwards olive-brown. The young larvae fed, but grew 

 slowly, on knotgrass until autumn, when they ceased feeding, 

 and remained rigid on the sides of the cage or on bits of 

 slick, &c., through the winter, and well into the summer of 

 the present jear ; as, at the time in spring when most other 

 hybernating larvaj were waking up, they persistently refused 

 to show any signs of vitality beyond moving the front portion 

 of the body backwards and forwards when touched. At this 

 time they were about five-eighths of an inch in length, and 

 were about the most soberly-attired larvae I ever had, being 

 in colour almost nniformly Aery dark dull brown (almost black 

 in some specimens), and with the exception of a still darker 

 double-dorsal line, and being a little paler at the segmental 

 divisions, there was no other colour or marking. The latter 

 part of May having arrived, and finding they did not seem 

 disposed to avail themselves of the various kinds of plants I 

 endeavoured to induce them to accept as food, including 

 Plantago major, Anemone nemorosa, &c., besides the Poly- 

 gonum aviculare, I took them up into a warm room, and 

 again gave them a plentiful and varied supply of provender. 

 Here I had soon the satisfaction of finding that one of them 

 had evidently set to work with a will, again on Polygonum 

 aviculare, and by the 1st of July it was full grown, when 1 

 described it as follows : — Length three-quarters of an inch ; 

 can scarcely be called slender, though not stout; head the 

 same width as the 2nd segment; it has the face flat, and is 

 distinctly notched on the crown; body somewhat flat when 

 viewed from above, but rounded ventrally ; the 9th segment 

 is the widest, and from it each becomes narrower to the head ; 

 the four posterior segments are of nearly uniform width, and 

 about as wide as the 6th; the segments overlap each other 

 considerably, rendering the divisions distinct, and also forming 

 on each side a conspicuous lateral ridge; the skin is ribbed 

 transversely throughout, and has a tough wiry appearance ; in 

 shape and habits it bears a very strong resemblance to many 



