ZEUZERID.E. 141 



wrinkled but shining, dirty creamy white ; raised spots 

 similar in colour, each furnished with a bristle ; subdorsal 

 stripe broad, pale purplish ; spiracles small, indistinctly pale 

 brown, except in segments two three and four, where each is 

 protected by a large oval, or round, plate ; anal plate homy, 

 translucent ; prolegs undeveloped, having mere transverse 

 rows of small points ; anal prolegs aborted. When young 

 tapering from near the head to the tail ; yellower, and with 

 the subdorsal stripes more purple. As it reaches full growth 

 these stripes partially disappear. (Hellins). 



Full fed in April and May, probably feeding two years ; 

 the eggs hatching about August, and the larvae becoming 

 full fed in the second following spring. In the underground 

 — or under-water — stems of the Common Reed {Arundo 

 ^hragmites), burrowing in and feeding upon the pith. 



Pupa very slender, cylindrical, of even bulk throughout ; 

 front of the headpiece with a small projection like a beak ; 

 wing-cases short ; back of the abdominal segments furnished 

 with rows of short points, and anal segment with strong 

 spines. Colour brown, paler on the wing-cases, darker on 

 the abdomen (Hellins). In the hollow upright stem of the 

 reed, in a space cut off by a diaphragm at the top and lined by 

 the larva with silk ; a place for emergence being prepared by 

 gnawing the substance at one side almost through. In this 

 cut-off portion of the reed stem the pupa moves freely and 

 rapidly up and down. June or July. 



Always an exceedingly local and obscure species, clinging 

 to the reed-stems in the daytime, and from its colour and 

 slenderness, closely resembling the dead sheaths and leaves, 

 so as to be scarcely perceptible. Flying only at night and 

 usually captured by means of a powerful light. Dr. F. D. 

 Wheeler says, " It is so strong on the wing that it can fly in 

 a hurricane. I have taken it at light on a bitterly cold night, 

 when a high north-west wind was blowing." He also says 



