THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



Vol. XIV.] NOVEMBEE, 1881. [No. 222. 



URANIA SLOAN US AT HOME. 



By p. H. Gossr, F.R.S. 



No. II.— THE LAEVA AND PUPA. 



In the 'Entomologist' for June, 1880, appeared some pen- 

 pictures of one of the most elegantly-formed and most richly- 

 coloured of exotic Lepidoptera. From the same careful observers 

 I can now describe the transformations of this fine insect, which, 

 though it is a denizen of one of the oldest British colonies, have 

 to this time remained unknown. 



My friend, the Kev. J. L. Mais, had written to me as follows, 

 from Walton, Jamaica, under date of July 6th, 1880 : — " We are 

 now highly interested in watching some curious larvae, which we 

 have reason to believe are those of Urania Sloanus. They were 

 found at a spot near the coast, which a week ago was swarming 

 with Vranice, all in much battered condition. The caterpillars 

 suspend themselves in the air by a long silken thread, having 

 the power to descend, hereby, from trees forty or fifty feet high, 

 to the ground ; and back again, when disturbed. 



" The larvae, when ready for change into the pupa-stage, weave 

 a silken net, including therein gnawed fragments of the leaves 

 they have been feeding on, and pellets of their own foeces. 



" We cannot be sure that we have lighted on the larva of 

 Urania, but it seems probable. The imago is in multitudes here 

 at present ; and generally in perfect condition. In some places 

 they hang on the branches three or four feet from the ground, 

 like swarms of bees ! " 



A fortnight later my friend thus wrote : — " All doubt on the 



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