36o LEPID OP VERA . 



extremities which are furnished with many hooks ; all the 

 prolegs now fully dev^eloped and in use. After the third 

 moult the head is pale brown with an olive tint and three 

 pale lines ; the body olive or grass-green in colour, darker on 

 the sides than on the back ; dorsal line almost pure white ; 

 subdorsal less conspicuous and faintly tinged with yellowish- 

 green ; spiracular line hardly so conspicuous as before, and 

 with a pale yellow blotch on each segment beneath the 

 spiracles. After the next moult the general colour is reddish- 

 brown, most distinctly so on the back, and darkest just above 

 and below the spiracular line, the underside pale brownish ; 

 dorsal and subdorsal lines white and very distinct, the 

 former widest in the centre of each segment and both 

 narrowed and darkened at each division ; spiracular line 

 broad and conspicuous, wrinkled, and having a rust-coloured 

 blotch in the middle of each segment ; head pale brown, 

 translucent, and having a darker line on each side. After 

 the fifth moult, when the larva is an inch long, the colour 

 has become a rich velvety reddish-brown, mottled with pale 

 spots on the back, and tinged with purplish or olive-green in 

 the subdorsal area ; the dorsal and subdorsal lines white but 

 narrow and broken, most distinct on the second segment; 

 the black edging above the subdorsal lines now begins to 

 appear, but the spiracular line is still broad, white, and with 

 the rusty blotches. From this stage the adult colouring is 

 gradually assumed. 



September to June, feeding through the winter, except in 

 the most severe weather, on Cidlmm indgaris, Erica cincrea, 

 and E. tetralix ; feeding at night and passing the daytime 

 extended and clinging closely to stems of heather, " their 

 colour admirablj- mimicking the reds and browns of the dead 

 and living twigs, with their lights and shades, and rendering 

 the larvas very difficult to find. In confinement they 

 seemed to keep to the thickest parts of the food plant during 

 the day in preference to other places of concealment." (W. 

 S. Riding.) It thus appears that this larva does not, by 



