136 LEPIDOPTERA. 



Larva one inch in length ; very soft, plump, and thick ; 

 with deeply divided segments and a small retractile head, 

 which is black with the front portion yellow or white ; body 

 dull greenish ; dorsal line yellowish green with a yellow spot 

 at the hinder edge of each segment ; a subdorsal row of black 

 spots each shaped somewhat like a dumb-bell, two on each 

 segment, and below them a row of nine yellow spots placed 

 on the hinder edge of segments three to eleven. Each 

 segment has a transverse row of oval tubercles bearing 

 numerous bristles, the lower ones half-edged with black ; 

 spiracles black. In the intervals of the spots and tubercles 

 the skin is studded with minute raised black points. Legs 

 black ; prolegs greenish, with triangular black tubercles on 

 their sides (Hellins). A variable larva, the black spots 

 becoming sometimes much larger and almost coalescing, and 

 the whole surface of the body blackened. 



August to October, then hybernating small and feeding 

 again from March to June on Lotus corriiculatics, Trifoliian 

 ;pratense, Onohrj/chis sativa, Anthyllis vulneraria, and other 

 Leguminous plants. 



On one occasion the Rev. J. Hellins found larvae in July 

 in a warm spot on the Devon coast and reared the moths in 

 August ; these he suspected to be of an exceptional second 

 generation. 



Pupa with the head-case prominent ; antenna- leg- and 

 wing-cases free at the tips ; abdomen tapering off suddenly 

 at the last three segments ; dorsal portions of abdominal 

 segments having rows of points. Glossy black with the 

 abdominal segments dull black ; greenish in the incisions. 

 In a yellow fusiform cocoon of close tough silk fixed con- 

 spicuously to a stalk of grass, or stem of a plant, some inches 

 from the ground. In pupa about a fortnight or three weeks, 

 sometimes longer. Mr. S. Webb tells me that it occasionally 

 lies over in that state until the following year. 



The most abundant species of the group, tolerably active 



