THE ENTOMOLOGIST. J 45 



and ceases at the base of the ventral claspers ; this is again 

 succeeded by a paler ground colour, and this again by a fre- 

 quently interrupted and most irregular stripe, which contains 

 five conspicuous black spots, and terminates in a larger linear 

 spot close to the ventral claspers. The larva spins a slight 

 web among the stolons of the ground ivy, and in this changes 

 to a smooth brown pupa. (Compare Coremia unidentaria, 

 described in No. 2 of the ' Entomologist.' — E. Newman. 



Life-history ofCidaria sagittata. — The eggs are laid in 

 July, in little batches of three or four, on the partial stalks or 

 flowers of the subcorymbose panicle of Thalictrum flavura 

 (common meadow-rue), a plant which grows abundantly by 

 the sides of some of the fen-drains near Chatteris, in Cam- 

 bridgeshire ; they are opalescent when laid, but become yel- 

 low before the young larvae emerge, which emergence gene- 

 rally takes place during the first week in August. The 

 young larvae are at first orange- coloured, but soon acquire a 

 more variegated appearance. They feed almost entirely on 

 the seeds of the Thalictrum, but sometimes they also nibble 

 round the partial stalks of the panicle, denuding them of 

 their cuticle, and causing small white patches ; and Mr. 

 Fryer, to whom I am indebted for a bountiful supply of 

 larvae, as well as many particulars of their economy, informs 

 me that in confinement they will eat the dried or withered 

 leaves of T. glaucum or T. aquilegifolium, the latter a species 

 very commonly cultivated in gardens, and remarkable for its 

 abundantly floriferous panicle, so attractive to the beautiful 

 rose-beetle (Celonia aurata) and other insects. Mr. Fryer 

 has observed that if, when the larvae have attained about half 

 their growth, they are supplied with Thalictrum glaucum, 

 they will bite half through the footstalks of the leaves, thus 

 causing the leaf to droop and wither, and in this state they 

 will feed on it as a substitute for their natural food, the seeds 

 of Thalictrum flavum. In their progress towards maturity 

 the larvae undergo considerable change, the exquisite colour- 

 ing of the full-fed larva being only acquired by slow degrees. 

 They are full-fed in about a month, and then invariably rest 

 with the back much arched, the head almost entirely with- 

 drawn into the 2ud segment, the feet directed forwards, and 

 the claspers tenaciously adhering to the slender flower-stalks 

 of the food-plant. Head narrower than the 2nd segment, 



