NOTES ON THE NOTODONTID^. 149 



a steady, heavy rain set in. A more depressing and melancholy 

 scene conld be imagined with difdculty. The only relief from 

 the sound of the pattering rain was an occasional plaintive cry 

 of plover or redwing disturbed by our presence. 



Westminster, May, 1887. 



NOTES ON THE NOTODONTID.E. 



By the Rev. Bernard Smith. 



(Coiitiiuied from p. 9;3.) 



I may now proceed to the other maple prominent, 

 LophojJteryx cuculla, whose history contrasts in many points 

 with that of Ptilophora ijlumigera. If the latter likes the sun, 

 the former emphatically prefers the deepest shade. If one 

 comes out in a burst, the other continues coming out for more 

 than a month. Plumigera may be seen in the perfect state at 

 light ; but cuculla is seldom seen, except in the breeding-cage. 



I found the eggs of cuculla about 1856, in the same summer 

 as the late Eev. H. Crewe, and in greater numbers, because I 

 found them at the right time, viz., the middle of July. The egg 

 and young larva must be searched for on chalky hill-sides 

 sloping to the north, in the densest shades of beech woods, on 

 stunted maple bushes, and often within a few inches of the 

 ground. A likely bush for the larva may be known by the 

 blotches on the leaves, caused by the larva having eaten, when 

 young, the under surface of the leaf. 



The egg is greenish white at first ; afterwards opalescent, 

 showing the head of the larva through the transparent shell. 

 An egg found in this stage is of more value, and a young larva 

 is still more sure to do well. Eggs laid on green leaves are 

 difficult to manage when the leaves dry up. They are better 

 left till near the time of hatching. There are two varieties of 

 this larva,— the brown or flesh-coloured, and the wdiity-green. 

 The green is scarcer, and does not produce the female, as 

 sometimes asserted. The single red hump at the tail at 

 once distinguishes even the green variety from Lophoptcriix 

 ccnnelina. "Whether the larva feeds up quickly depends on the 

 warmth of the season ; but I have never known it to be double- 

 brooded, though an odd one has emerged in the autumn. 



