THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 265 



leaves and twigs, and feed in company. As they increase in 

 size this social propensity continues, and they not only feed 

 in company, but when satisfied with a meal retire to a larger 

 branch, and on the surface of this repose side by side in the 

 most amicable and sociable manner, always, however, cover- 

 ing the surface of the substance on which they rest with a 

 silken web, and occasionally concealing and protecting them- 

 selves beneath it : after the last moult this economy ceases, 

 and the larvae then feed alone. When quite full-fed the larva 

 rests in a straight position, but on being annoyed raises the 

 anterior extremity and tucks in the head, assuming a pic- 

 turesque and somewhat Sphinx-like attitude, and if the an- 

 noyance be continued this attitude is aggravated, and the 

 larva finally falls from its food-plant, forming a complete 

 ring. Head scarcely narrower than the 2nd segment, sub- 

 globose ; body almost uniformly cylindrical, covered with 

 silky hairs, a portion of which are very much longer than the 

 rest. Colour of the head almost black ; of the body intense 

 velvety black, having on each side a narrow interrupted yel- 

 low-white stripe, which in each segment emits a branch 

 towards the back at right angles with itself; on the 12th seg- 

 ment these branches nearly, and sometimes quite, unite on 

 the back, and midway between each two branches is another 

 aborted branch, sometimes reduced to a mere spot ; the 

 shorter hairs on the dorsal surface are rich sienna-brown, 

 very bright and vivid, and disposed in two longitudinal series 

 of subquadrate and nearly contiguous patches ; the longer 

 hairs are mostly on the sides, paler and tipped with gray ; 

 legs black and glabrous : ventral claspers red ; anal claspers 

 pitchy black ; ventral surface smoke-coloured. When full- 

 fed, which is towards the end of June, and sometimes as late 

 as the middle of July, it forms a very compact and oblong 

 cocoon, remarkably small for the size of the larva, and in this 

 changes to a dark brown pupa, in which state it remains 

 throughout the winter and until the following February, when 

 the moth appears on the wing. 1 am indebted to Mr. Wright 

 and Mr. Pristo for a bountiful supply of this beautiful and 

 interesting larva. — Edward Newman. 



Life-history of Bombyx neustria. — The eggs are laid in 

 July, and sometimes as late as August, on the food-plant, 

 forming a compact ring round the twigs ; ihey are arranged 



