178 THfJ ENTOMOLOGIST. 



dajs they become somewhat transparent, so that the enclosed 

 larva may be seen through the shell. The young larvae 

 emerge almost immediately after this change in the appear- 

 ance of the egg, and enter on life with the occupation of 

 eating the egg-shell ; they are most marvellous little creatures, 

 very pale-coloured, with a few long bristle-like hairs, three or 

 four times as long as the body, sticking out in all directions, 

 but projecting more especially at both extremities ; these 

 long hairs may be seen through the egg-shell ])rior to the 

 emergence of the larva, coiled round the interior of the shell : 

 on shaking the leaf these httle creatures fall, assuming a 

 somewhat crescentic figure, and hanging by an invisible 

 thread, exactly after the manner of a family of recently dis- 

 closed spiders ; they soon begin to eat the upper surface of 

 the leaf, making conspicuous brown patches ; after a few 

 days, as they increase in size, they pass through the leaf, 

 making nearly circular holes, and thenceforward continue 

 principally on the under side : when about to moult they 

 spin a slight transparent web on the under side of the leaf, 

 and beneath this the operation of moulting is performed : on 

 emerging for the last time from this temporary retirement, 

 they eat voraciously, and soon attain their full stature, their 

 previous growth having been extremely slow. The full-fed 

 larva rests on the under side of the leaf in a nearly straight 

 position, but the back slightly arched ; if disturbed it falls, 

 rolled in a lax ring, but soon resumes a straight position and 

 begins to crawl. Head almost equal in width to the 2nd seg- 

 ment, prone, not notched on the crown : body slightly attenu- 

 ated at both extremities, the skin coai-sel}' folded at the sides; 

 the 2nd segment has two lateral tubercles or tubercular warts 

 on each side, the upper one being the more consjiicuous, and 

 projecting on each side of the head ; the 3rd and 4th seg- 

 ments have each eight warts ; the 5th, 6th, 7lh and 8th seg- 

 ments have each an erect, quadrate, medio-dorsal, dense tuft 

 or tussock, which viewed sideways appears notched on the 

 summit ; they have also three warts on each side ; the 9th 

 and 10th segments have each eight warts; the 10th and lUh 

 segments have each a medio-dorsal valvular opening, and 

 also three warts on each side ; the 12th segment has a slen- 

 der medio-dorsal pencil of bristles springing from the centre 

 of a wart, and there are two other warts on each side below 



