56 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



renounced all pretensions to the character of a miner : 

 after a time the two anterior segments resume their original 

 rnarliings, and the little creature's body becomes speckled over 

 with minute black spots, from each of which there projects a 

 little black bristle ; the dorsal vessel is white, but after an 

 interval each side of its anterior extremity is observed to be 

 bounded by a brownish coloured fluid, which in time deepens 

 to a somewhat dull tone, and ultimately this fluid is noticeable 

 as traversing each side of the dorsal vessel ibr about three- 

 parts of its entire length. The larva will either feed solitarily 

 or gregariously : the latter is undoubtedly its most usual mode 

 of life, as they maybe found grazing together in communities, 

 consuming a considerable quantity of the epidermis of their 

 food-plant. Soon after it commences life as an external 

 feeder, it spins several silken threads across the part of the 

 leaf on which it is feeding, each thread having a number of 

 various-sized viscid globules of silk upon it. Now these 

 globules of silk are purposely placed there by the larva, for if 

 we closely watch its movements whilst engaged spinning the 

 above-mentioned threads, we shall observe that the larva 

 moves its head with a slow jerking motion, and that im- 

 mediately after each motion we shall notice a deposit of 

 silk in a globular form. The viscid globules are possibly 

 intended by the larva as a sort of defence (if that is not their 

 object it is difficult to assign any other purpose for them) 

 to protect it from the attack of its natural enemies the 

 Ichneumonidae ; if that be so, it would appear to be but a 

 very imperfect protection, judging from the fact that one 

 constantly breeds Ichneumons from these larvae instead of 

 moths. So far as I have hitherto observed, the body of the 

 larva is never inhabited by more than a single parasitic larva 

 at one and the same time : the latter mostly remains inside 

 the body of its victim until it has spun its open net-work 

 cocoon preparatory to entering the pupal state ; the parasitic 

 larva then rapidly feeds up, and in so doing absorbs all the 

 juices in the body of its victim ; the only evidence of the Chau- 

 liodus larva's previous existence is discernible in the presence 

 of its dry empty shrivelled-up skin. The Ichneumon being then 

 quite full-fed spins its own dense white cocoon underneath 

 the open net-work of the cocoon of its unfortunate prey. 

 At the proper period the larva of the Chauliodus 



