248 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



When the larvae have absorbed the yellow liquid in the egg, and 

 are fully developed, they can be seen through the shell of the egg, 

 which is white or colourless, when the larva has come out. The 

 larvae of Imperialis have six stages, and the dates of the stages of 

 those I reared here are as follows : — First stage commenced on 

 July 31st; second, August 7th; third, August 17th; fourth, 

 August 29th; fifth, September 18th; and sixth, October 1st. 

 Larvae went into ground to pupate on October 13th and 14th, 



The larvae of this curious species vary considerably in colour; 

 some are of a yellowish colour, others light brown or tawny, 

 others black or nearly black. In all the stages the larvae have 

 five spines or horns : two on the 3rd segment, two on the 4th, 

 and one on the last segment but one ; this is taking the head as 

 the 1st segment, with regard to the first four spines. These 

 spines are covered with sharp points all round, and their 

 extremities are fork-like. In the first three stages they are 

 horny ; in the last three stages these spines are fleshy, and much 

 shorter in proportion than they are in the first three stages. 

 The colour of the spines in the last stages is coral-red, yellowish, 

 or black. In the fifth and sixth stages the spine on the last 

 segment but one is very short. A further description of the 

 larvae of Im2)eriaUs in all its stages will be given in my next 

 report. They were reared in the house, under glass, and with 

 the greatest success, till they went into the ground to turn into 

 pupa state. 



As soon as my Imperialis had hatched I gave them various 

 kinds of foliage, plane-tree, oak, pine, sallow, &c. At first they 

 did not touch any kind of foliage, and I was afraid I should be 

 unable to rear them ; but on the second or third day of their 

 existence the}' made up their minds and decided upon eating the 

 foliage of some of the European trees I had offered them. They 

 attacked oak, sallow, and pine, but did not touch the plane-tree 

 leaves. In America this species feeds on button-wood, which is 

 the American plane-tree {Platanus occidentalis), yet the larvae did 

 not seem, to take to Platanus orientaUs. After a little time I 

 reduced the foliage to oak and sallow branches, and ultimately 

 gave them the Salix caprea only, on which they thrived very well. 

 I was pleased with this success, as I had previously read in a 

 volume of the Naturalist's liibrary a description of Ceratocampa 

 imperialis, which ends as follows: — "The caterpillars are not 



