110 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



during the time that remained until they were full grown, 

 retained this intolerance of handling, differing altogether 

 from those I had fed in-doors, which took no notice when 

 they were touched or moved about, although 1 often tried to 

 excite them into motion, so as to see their peculiar mode of 

 walking. The wild larvae generally hid themselves in the 

 flannel by day, crawling out stealthily at night, as if they 

 could not accommodate themselves to the idea that they 

 need no longer lake precautions agaiiist their o»it-of-door 

 enemies. But more striking than this difference in disposition 

 was that in colour: the wild larvae were as dark as the smoky 

 trunks they rested on ; so diff"erent from the first six that 

 hardly anyone, judging from colour alone, would have 

 thought them identical. 



Thus it is worth remarking that the larvae of C. nupta, in 

 the early part of their existence, when they are not strong 

 enough to crawl far to their food, rest on the young willow 

 twigs, which they closely resemble in colour. When they 

 grow strong, and are too large to rest comfortably on the 

 slender stems, they assume the colour of the trunks, so that 

 ihey are always difficult of detection. Alone, this would not 

 have much weight, as most larvae have a tendency to become 

 darker as they grow ; but it is curious to find that these 

 larvae do not seem to grow darker when withdrawn from their 

 proper surroundings, but that they adapt themselves to the 

 colour of the object on which they rest. 



It occurred to me that if I could put a young larva under 

 the same conditions as to colour which would belong to it in 

 a natural state, it would show the dark colour and markings 

 of the wild larvae. On the 14th of July I found a young larva 

 on willow, so late in the season that I feared it might be 

 ichneumoned. This ultimately proved to be the case. 

 However, in hopeful ignorance, 1 put it alone into a glass 

 pan, substituting soft black cloth for flannel to represent the 

 colour of the tree trunk, against which it would rest: it had 

 abundance of leaves, and was covered in with green net. 

 Thus, as to colour, it was circumstanced as far as could be, 

 as in nature. It was not to be expected that it would 

 resemble the wild larvae in disposition, having nothing to 

 develop its jealousy for its own safety, though it might 

 well be expected that it would assume their conspicuous 

 markings. It grew slowly, gaining in colour steadily, till the 

 time came for its last moult, when 1 hoped to see it as dark 

 as it would have been in a natural state ; but it remained io 



