340 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



pair is distant from the next ; all the legs are sickle-shaped. 

 The colour of both head and body is exactly like that ot the 

 birch-twigs on which the caterpillar rests ; the dorsal area is 

 thickly, the ventral sparsely, irrorated with white ; each seg- 

 ment has a pair of dorsal white spots placed transversely ; 

 the warts on the 12lh segment are black. The caterpillar 

 1 have described spun a tolerablj^ compact but altogether 

 shapeless cocoon among the leaves of the birch, and on the 

 third day changed to a pupa of a creamy white colour ; it has 

 a short sharp keel or ridge behind the head ; the abdomen is 

 rather long, and tapers gradually to a point furnished with a 

 few small hooks, by which it is suspended in the interior of 

 its web. I am indebted to Mrs. Hutchinson, of Grantsfield, 

 for the larva described. — Edward Newman. 



Vescri/jtion of the Larva of Boarmia rhomhoidaria. — 

 The eggs are generally laid in July, on privet, elder, or some 

 other shrub or tree, those of low growth being preferred : the 

 young larvae emerge at the end of July or during August, and 

 grow slowly : at the approach of winter they are scarcely 

 more than half an inch in length, and then cease to eat and 

 retire for hybernation : during part of the following May and 

 June they feed freely, and are soon full-fed. The larva then 

 rests in a straight stick-like position, with the head prone 

 and the feet crowded together and directed forwards, so that 

 the head, anterior segments and feet seem to form one mass ; 

 sometimes, however, the feet are extended, and clasp a twig 

 of the food-plant. The head is slightly narrower than the 

 2nd segment, llie face extremely flat, and the crown promi- 

 nent and slightly notched in the middle ; there are a few 

 very obvious bristles about the mouth ; the body is of uniform 

 thickness throughout, and has a very manifest undulating 

 lateral skinfold ; the body terminates beneath the anal flap in 

 three short points, of which the middle one is slender and 

 acute, the outer ones stouter and obtuse ; on various parts of 

 the body are short and slender bristles : the colour of the 

 head is dark umber-brown, the face approaching to black, 

 the crown paler, the palest part of all being the ridge where 

 the crown and facial disk unite ; the body is rich umber- 

 brown, exhibiting traces of three slender white dorsal stripes, 

 of which the medio-dorsal is straight, and bordered, espe- 

 cially on the 2nd and 3rd segments, with black ; the anterior 



