ON THE EARLIER STAGES OF HESPERIA LINEOLA. 179 
general shape, a miniature of its form when full grown, thicker 
at the middle, and tapering towards the head and anal segments, 
and in colour is a pale yellow, with a black head and black plate 
on the second segment; when moving it draws up the hinder seg- 
ments slightly, if disturbed, curling up into a ring in which the 
anal segments protrude. At this time its movements are by no 
means slow, but it evidently desires concealment, and rests in the 
middle of a blade of grass, reaching its head to one side and 
scooping out portions of the blade. I found, also, that in several 
instances the larva had further protected itself by spinning two 
silken cords from side to side of a blade over its back. After the 
first moult the head still continues black, the plate decreasing in 
size, and the colour of the body becoming paler, and with an 
inclination towards the green of the later stages. From this 
point I must depend on the larve obtained at large. One of 
these was so small as to have certainly moulted no more than 
twice, and had in this skin lost the plate behind the head and 
attained to a yellowish green, having a rather broad dorsal stripe 
of darker green, which stripe is continued as a distinct brown 
mark over the head to the mouth. On each side of this brown 
mark the head is paler, being of a faint brownish tint. There are 
two thin subdorsal yellow stripes, and a light line traverses each 
side just below the spiracles; the segmental divisions are yellow, 
and the belly and legs of a deeper and clearer green. In the next 
skin, 7.¢., after the third moult, the only difference noticeable is 
the more pronounced colouring, especially of the head, where, 
besides the central brown mark, two others, one on each side, are 
present. This, with the body of a clearer green, gives the larva 
amore attractive appearance than is usual among this family of 
the butterflies. As distinguished from the larva of H. thaumas, 
this species appears to lose none of its active upward movements, 
and may be found by a close search at dusk, and no doubt during 
the night, near the tops of the blades of grass. In the next skin, 
2.é@., after the fourth moult, the only change noticeable is a still 
greater intensity of the previous colour and markings; and, 
further, that the distinction between this larva and that of 
H. thawmas can be readily taken in by a glance at the head of 
each: as above stated, in H. lineola this is a pale yellowish, with 
three brown lines; and in H. thaumas, a whitish green, without 
lines. At this time the resemblance of the full-grown larva to a 
grass-blade is very remarkable, the striped green of the body 
assimilating in a wonderful manner to the stem on which it rests, 
and the brown striped head corresponding accurately to a withered 
tip of the blade; doubtless this is a provision of nature on behalf 
of the larva against its foes. In this, and also in the previous 
skin, two white scaly excrescences are formed between the fourth 
and fifth or final pairs of prolegs, which excrescence is thrown off 
82 
