244 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



Others are pure white, but the bristles of the spines are black : 

 legs pitchy black : belly and claspers smoke-coloured, indis- 

 tinctly tinged with pink. My specinaens changed on the 

 22iul of May to very short and oliese pupae, the head being 

 transversely produced in front and broadly truncate, the base 

 of each wing-case also slightly produced ; the abdomen very 

 convex, its anal extremity bent under towards the extremity 

 of the wing-cases, and the dorsal outline being almost semi- 

 circular, the anal extremity attached by caudal hooks to a 

 sliglit web spun by the larva on the edge of the plantain- 

 leaf. Colour creamy white, variegated with black and orange ; 

 cases of the legs adorned with black markings only; dorsum 

 of thorax with two conspicuous black markings, margined 

 with orange ; the eight abdominal segments have each a 

 basal dorsal baud, alternately orange and black, and very 

 ornamental : anal segment orange. This species remains in 

 the pupa state three weeks, the perfect insect ap])earing on 

 the wing in June ; it is extremely local, but abundant where 

 found : it frequents open places in woods, particularly where 

 the herbage is stunted and where heath occurs: Mr. Tress 

 Beale observes that it is fond of basking on thistles, and that 

 when taken it feigns death, falling into the collector's net in 

 an apparently inanimate state, closing its wings and con- 

 tracting its legs. I am indebted to Mr. Bignall for a liberal 

 supply of this local larva, which appears to be hitherto un- 

 known to British Entomologists. — Echvnrd Neivntnn. 



Life-Jiistonj of Saiyriis Janira. — The females deposit 

 their eggs on various species of Gramineae, and, from the 

 willingness exhibited by the larvae in confinement to eat any 

 grasses provided for them, I conclude that little choice is 

 displayed in the selection of species : the period of ovi- 

 position extends over seven or eight weeks, commencing 

 about the third week in June, and ending about the middle 

 of August, during the whole of which period I have observed 

 the females busily engaged in this occupation. The young 

 larva emerges in twelve days, and feeds sparingly, after the 

 manner of infant larvae, until the first moult; as soon as this 

 is accomplished it retires towards the surface of the ground, 

 and hybernates at the roots of the herbage. In May it re- 

 appears, and may then be found by examining the mowing 

 grass near the surface of the ground. It is usually full-fed 



