148 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



far as the lOtb, have eighteen warts each ; six of these are 

 arranged in a transverse series, reaching from spiracle to 

 spiracle ; two, not invariably present, are behind these ; and 

 five others are situated on each side below the spiracle. 

 Colour of the head wainscot-brown, reticulated with dingy 

 white ; the colour is paler about the mouth, and this pale 

 region has a black reniform spot on each side of the mouth, 

 including the ocelli, which ai'e also black ; on each side of 

 the face near the median division is a whitish line, which 

 ascends to the crown, and then turns obliquely towards the 

 anterior margin of the 2nd segment : colour of the body yel- 

 lowish, the warts being white, and very frequently, that is in 

 many of the specimens, surrounded by a smoke-coloured 

 ornamentation, which imparts a decidedly different appear- 

 ance to those specimens which possess it ; the spiracles are 

 wainscot-brown ; the bristles from the warts are white ; the 

 legs and claspers are very pale, almost while. From the 8th 

 to the middle of July 1 observed these larvae spinning their 

 cocoons in the still verdant leaves of the oak, and on subse- 

 quently examining these cocoons I found them very tough 

 and compact, and each contained a smooth brown obese 

 pupa, having a very pointed anal extremity, furnished with a 

 series of minute hooks, by which it is suspended head down- 

 wards in the interior of the cocoon. From the circumstance 

 of the perfect insect being almost invariably found on the 

 trunks of the oaks in April, when they are perfectly denuded 

 of leaves, it must be inferred that the falling leaves, acting as 

 parachutes, carry with them in their descent the enclosed 

 pupa, which, thus protected, remain on the ground until the 

 moth' makes its escape : in confinement this escape took 

 place at the end of February and beginning of March, at 

 least a month before the ordinary time in a state of nature. 

 I have been indebted on two occasions to a kind corre- 

 spondent, Mr. Mavvson, of Cockermouth, for a supply of 

 these interesting larvae. — Edward Newman. 



Life-history of Laverna atra. — Let us examine the fruit- 

 spurs and terminal shoots of that somewhat gnarled and 

 stunted apple tree as the leaves and buds are bursting forth : 

 we find that the leaves, as well as the petals of the flowers, 

 have the appearance of being scorched : on removing the spur 

 at its point of issue, and carefully examining it, we find a 



