220 • LEPIDOPTERA. 



Larvae hairy, but differing in appearance in an extra- 

 ordinary manner — cylindrical, or lium]3ed, or with a long 

 tubercle ; hairs placed singly or in dense tufts, or silken and 

 plentiful all over the body, or short and downy. Feeding on 

 leaves of trees, shrubs, or low plants, 



PuPiE presenting several types, in strong tough cocoons or 

 in holes in woody substances. 



The extraordinary divergence in form and in the arrange- 

 ment and extent of hairy covering among the larvae of the 

 species of this genus has led to the bestowal of a quite un- 

 usual amount of attention upon it, and even to proposals for 

 its dispersal into various families — Arctiidas, Liparidse, 

 Notodontidte, as well as among the Noctuidte. But the 

 researches of Dr. T. A. Chapman have shown that these 

 extraordinary distinctions, visible in the well-grown, or full- 

 grown, larvae, are by no means observable in them in their 

 earlier stages, and that in the infant larvfe, as in the perfect 

 insects, there is a very close relation between the species. 

 His minutely structural examination of the pupae of the 

 various species has resulted in a proposal to divide the British 

 species of the genus into three groups, or sub-genera, for which 

 he has proposed the names of '' Viminia,'^ to include auricoma, 

 myriccc (cupltorhuv), mcnyanthcdis^ rumicis, and ArsiloncJie 

 vcnosa; " Cuspidia," to consist of psi, tridens, strigosa, alni, 

 megacephala, Icporina and aceris ; and '^ Bisulcia" for the 

 somewhat aberrant ligustri. 



The details of structure given by him are of extreme 

 interest, and in any classification founded upon pupal 

 characters, his divisions would necessarily be adopted. I 

 think no excuse necessary for devoting a little space to these 

 details. 



In the first group — Viminia — named from the structure 

 of the pupal segments, which appear hooped like the willow- 

 hoops of a barrel, the pupa is of very even thickness to the 

 middle of the abdominal segments, whence it tapers off 



