228 LEPTDOPTERA. 



The protection afforded by the curious form of the hairs in 

 this larva is most interesting. When on the trunk of a tree 

 it looks like a twisted downy feather, and on a leaf the same 

 resemblance is kept up to some extent. Dr. Chapman, 

 however, points out a quite different protective resemblance. 

 He says : " My observations were made and repeated many 

 times on the green, white-haired larva occurring on alder ; 

 this larva sits somewhat curled round, near the middle of the 

 underside of a leaf. Looking down from above, it is absolutely 

 hidden ; looking up from beneath, it ought to be very evident; 

 but this is far from being the case. In looking up from 

 below through the foliage of an alder tree, most of the lower 

 leaves are in the shade of the upper ones, but here and there 

 a gleam of light falls through on to a portion of a leaf, and 

 gives it quite a different tone and appearance as seen from 

 beneath. A larva of Ic'porina, seated beneath an unilluminated 

 leaf precisely resembles one of these patches. I have several 

 times missed a larva till I have looked three or four times, 

 and have also fancied I saw a larva, when none was there." 



July to September or even October; on alder and birch, 

 but occasionally on oak, aspen, black poplar, and Cauadian 

 poplar. 



Pupa of ordinary form, broadest from the fifth to ninth 

 segments, then tapering off ; spiracles distinctly marked ; 

 blackish-brown, paler beneath ; wing cases with raised dark 

 green nervures. In a deep burrow bored by the larva into 

 rotten wood, dead bark, or the pith of bramble or elder ; the 

 entrance closed by a covering of tough silk, with which the 

 larval hairs are interwoven. In this state through the winter, 

 and not unfrequently through two or more years. 



The moth sits in the daytime on the trunk or branch of a 

 tree — usually alder or birch — and often at a height of fifteen 

 or twenty feet ; in other cases close to the ground or on a 

 fern frond or other plant under the tree. It flies at early 

 dusk, and comes willingly to sugar, sometimes so early that 



