THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 239 



of Atalanta (full-fed) on a small bed of nettles, in one or two 

 instances two larvae close together on the same plant ; in 

 another place I found six larvae on two or three plants, and 

 elsewhere three larvae on the same plant : the whole of these 

 larvae were full-grown, and were not more scattered than full- 

 grown larvae of Urticae or lo : I may state that there was an 

 abundance of nettles growing in the immediate vicinity, and 

 that the fact of these larvae being gregarious cannot be attri- 

 buted to a scarcity of food-plants. Mr. Stainton states that 

 the larva is " yellowish gray, with a pale lateral line ; . . . 

 between the second and third row of spines is a row of black 

 V-like marks." Out of the twenty-six larvae mentioned 

 above no two were exactly alike in colour, the ground colour 

 being a bright sulphur, and the larvae unicolorous, greenish 

 yellow, gray, ruddy stone-colour, dull green, drab, lavender 

 only sparsely dotted with black, and black dotted with white ; 

 the only point in which they agreed in colour was the yel- 

 lowish spiracular lines. 



The larva of C. Cardui is said to be brown, with four yel- 

 low lines ; those I have reared have been, without exception, 

 of a most unmistakable black. 



In Professor Westwood's work already mentioned, the larva 

 of C. Phlaeas is figured of a light green colour, with two 

 bright stripes of carmine, although he describes it as follows : 

 — " The caterpillar is green, with a pale dorsal and lateral 

 line." Mr. Stainton gives the following description of the 

 same (from Freyer) : — "Larva green, a red dorsal line and a 

 red stripe on each side." The illustration in Professor West- 

 wood's book is at variance with his description, but agrees 

 better with Mr. Stainton's. I have, at the time I write, two 

 larvae of Phlaeas, and they do not agree with either of the 

 descriptions given above, being dull green, with no per- 

 ceptible lateral line, and the faintest of interrupted dorsal 

 lines of a brownish tinge ; they are thickly studded with 

 spines, which, when magnified and viewed in the sunlight, 

 are of a bright chestnut hue. 



Mr. Stainton quotes Freyer again in the larva of C. dispar : 

 there is a well-known entomologist, Mr. Bond, who could 

 have given his experience of this larva, and, speaking from 

 my own knowledge of him, 1 think, and every one who has 

 the pleasure of his acquaintance will agree with me in 



