164 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



segment at the lowest angles of the diamond-shaped marks, and 

 one on each side of the diamond-shaped marks half-way between 

 the before mentioned spots and the angle nearest the head. 

 There are also two parallel rows of white spots on each side of 

 the larva, one in the same line with the spiracles, and the other 

 a little above. A darker band of brown runs along the back. 

 The ground colour is greenish brown, beautifully marked and 

 marbled, above the spiracles, with numerous dark brown or 

 black wavy lines. The legs and underneath parts of the larvae 

 are of a pale pea-green without markings. 



Feeding only took place at night after the third moult, the 

 larvae hiding themselves during the day at the bottom of the jar 

 in which they were kept. 



After the moult in April, as the larvae did not seem to care 



much about either R. hiilhosus or R. ficaria, I gave them some 



privet, which was just then coming into leaf, and which grew 



abundantly in the locality where the imago is found. They 



immediately commenced feeding on this, and were nearly two 



inches in length, and I should say almost full grown, when a 



lady visitor, impelled no doubt by the proverbial curiosity of the 



sex, proved fatal to two of them, thus leaving me one survivor 



only. This survivor I put in a tin box with some earth at the 



bottom, and on the 1st May it disappeared. Of course I thought 



the larvae had burrowed, but on searching the mould a few days 



later I could not find it. Whether female curiosity was also to 



blame I do not know. The larvae in the various stages afforded 



rather a striking example of imitation of the plants on which 



they fed. In its green forms, its general ground colour, with the 



white spots and lines, it gives a good resemblance to the leaves of 



the pilewort, the white spots giving it the appearance produced 



by the reflection of the sun's light on the shining surface of the 



leaves, and the brown colour of the larvae after its last moult 



giving a good imitation of the stems of the privet. I may add 



that my larvae after their third moult were kept in a greenhouse, 



though without any artificial heat. The larvae will also feed on 



ash. 



Lewes, Sussex, May 23, 1885. 



