THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



Vol. XVIIL] 



JANUAEY, 1885. 



[No. 260. 



NOTES ON THE LARVA OF STILBIA ANOMALA. 

 By W. S. Riding, B.A., M.D. 



Thirty-four eggs were laid, early in September, 1888, by 

 some worn females of Stilhia anomala, which had been beaten 

 from the heather at Woollacombe, N. Devon, some days before. 

 They were globular, pale-straw in colour (soon changing to pink), 

 and closely striated vertically. They were laid in batches. 



Though kept exposed to the open air, the larvse emerged on 

 October 25th, by a small hole in the side of the eggs. They did 

 not eat the shell. The young larvse were semi-transparent, 

 dingy green, with a pale brownish tinge underneath, and covered 

 with some thin hairs, both arranged longitudinally and scattered. 

 Each had three pairs of true legs and three pairs of claspers, 

 four very indistinct elevations in front of the claspers indicating 

 two rudimentary anterior pairs. In moving, they looped like 

 Geometers. When at rest, they assumed a characteristic position 

 on the top of the blades of grass, the third part of the body 

 being fixed, the back arched, and the head tucked in under the 

 front segments, looking just like so many minute sea-horses. 

 They were easily disturbed, and in falling coiled themselves 

 in rings. 



On November Ith, many were noted as having the anterior 

 rudimentary claspers distinctly visible and the head j)ale brown. 

 On the 18th, a white spiracuiar line was observed, and on the 

 25th, when some of the larvse had grown to a size of five lines in 

 length, and after their second moult, the colour had changed to 



ENTOM. — JAN., 1885. B 



