THE ENTOMOLOGIST 



Vol. XXVIIL] SEPTEMBER, 1895. [No. 888. 



LIFE-HISTORY OF NYSSIA LAPPONARIA. 



By F. W. Frohawk, F.E.S. 



Plate I. 



On May 6th last I received from Mr. W. M. Christy some 

 va of Nyssia lapponaria, who very kindly sent them to me for the 

 purpose of figuring and describing the insect in its various stages ; 

 and having done so I now have the pleasure of publishing the 

 following life-history and accompanying figures of the species 

 through all its stages. 



Figs. 1, la. — The ovum is of a compressed oval form, with 

 one end rather larger than the other, and measuring in its 

 greatest diameter ^V in. ; the surface is delicately and beauti- 

 fully reticulated with a quinquefarius pattern ; each cell is 

 mapped out with finely raised ridges shown in Fig. Ih. The 

 colour is of a very clear bright greenish-yellow; a few days before 

 hatching it deepens in colour, and gradually becomes deeper, 

 until, shortly before hatching, it assumes a very deep metallic 

 blue-green hue. The ova hatched between 5 and 6 p.m. on May 

 16th. Directly after emergence the larva measures tV in. v/hile 

 extended ; if disturbed it falls, suspending itself by a web, and if 

 falling upon the ground remains for a short time in a looped 

 attitude. 



Figs. 2, 2 a. — The larva in its first stage and when ten days 

 old; it is^^in. long, cylindrical, and of uniform thickness through- 

 out ; the ground colour is a deep dull biack ; the first segment 

 has the anterior edge white, forming a collar and encircling the 

 segment ; immediately behind the collar is a series of very 

 minute warts, each beset with a short fine bristle ; the 4th, 5th, 

 6th, 7th, and 8th segments are each encircled with a number of 

 pure white markings, consisting of fourteen on each segment 

 (seven on either side), Fig. 2a; the dorsal pair are longest, and 

 are separated by a medio-dorsal black line ; these, as well as the 



ENTOM. — SEPT. 1895. X 



