THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 35 



portion of each stripe ; the dorsal horn is black above and at 

 the tip, yellow beneath for two-thirds of its length ; legs 

 dingy while, spotted with black; claspers and ventral snrface 

 concoloroiis with the back. In August, or sonietinies as late 

 as September, it descends the tree on which it has been 

 feeding, and undergoes a great change in colour, the green, 

 white and lilac colours fading, and the entire surface being 

 more or less pervaded with a dingy brown ; it now com- 

 mences crawling with restless activity over the surface of the 

 ground, never attempting to ascend any tree or shrub, and 

 continues this occupation sometimes for two or three days, 

 and until it has found a suitable spot for burying itself in the 

 earth, in which it forms a smooth walled cell, and, concealed 

 therein, undergoes its change to a pupa : this is perfectly 

 smooth, and of a rich brown colour; the trunk-sheath de- 

 tached, except at the base, its apex somewhat clavate ; 

 the anal extremity is furnished with a curved horn, smaller 

 than, but in other respects resembling, that of the larva. I 

 am indebted to Mr. W. J. Row^e for the opportunity of de- 

 scribing this common but very beautiful larva. — E. Newman, 



Entomological Notes and Captures. 



Prior Appearance of Male or Female, 8fc. — I have just 

 been reading Mr. Greene's remarks (Entom. iii. 21) respect- 

 ing the time of appearance of the sexes of the Lepidoptera, 

 and I cannot agree with him in the opinion which he has 

 expressed. For more than thirty years I have paid pretty 

 close attention to our Lepidoptera, and I am convinced that, 

 as a general rule, the males appear before the females. I 

 allude, of course, to the first appearance of each species in 

 the perfect state, because, when specimens continue to 

 emerge for three or four successive weeks, the sexes appear 

 simultaneously the latter portion of the time. Lewin, in his 

 work on the British butterflies, after describing the larva 

 and pupa of Thecla Betulae, says, " The male butterfly ap- 

 pears on the wing about the middle of August ; the female 

 is nearly fourteen days later before it comes irom the chrysa- 

 lis ;" and J have repeatedly proved the accuracy of this 

 statement. What Mr. Greene says about the sluggishness of 



