374 MODERN CLASSIFICATION OF INSECTS. 



{fin- 45. 8. 45. 9. head, 45. 10. antenna, 45. 11. hind leg of this in- 

 sect). The eggs (eight or ten in number) are deposited upon the 

 leaves of the white and other lilies, fastened near together by a glu- 

 tinous secretion, which soon hardens. The larvae are hatched in about 

 fifteen days ; at first, they feed gregariously upon the parencliynia of 

 the leaf, progressing in regular rows, but separating as they increase 

 in growth ; they are short, thick, and fleshy, with six articulated legs, 

 and the skin of a dirty colour. The larvee (^fig. 45. 12. and 13. magni- 

 fied) are, however, generally entirely covered with a layer {^fig. 45. 12. 

 X .) of humid matter, resembling macerated leaves, but which is com- 

 posed of the excrement of the insect, the anal aperture being placed 

 in the dorsal part of the last segment of the body (^jig. 45, 14.), thus 

 affording a singular, but apparently disgusting, means of defence against 

 the effects of the sun, or the rapacity of insectivorous birds ; the ex- 

 crement being by degrees pushed forward and upwards, without ad- 

 hering to the body of the larva, which is, indeed, able to cast it 

 entirely off at will. The larva attains its full size in about a fortnight, 

 when it descends into the earth, forms an oval cell, smoothly polished, 

 and coated on the inside with a varnish-like secretion, within which 

 it assumes the pupa state, which lasts about another fortnight. (See 

 also Vallisnieri, Esperienze ed Osservazione, 1726, p. 195., Cantaride 

 de Gigli.) 



M. Boudier has published (3Ie?noires de la Soc. Lhmeene de Paris, 

 t. iv.) an account of the habits of another species of the same genus 

 (C. brunnea Fab.), which resides, as well as its larva, upon the Lilium 

 convallaria. An abstract of this memoir is given in the Bidlctin dcs 

 Sc('e?ices Naturelles, for July, ] 827. 



The larvee (^fig. 45. 16. and 17. ditto magnified) of another beauti- 

 ful species (C. asparagi, fg. 45. 15.) are occasionally very injurious to 

 asparagus which has been allowed to grow up, during the summer 

 months. Their transformations are effected in a ^eyv weeks. The eggs 

 {Jig. 45. 10. X and 18. x ) are oblong-oval, and placed on the plant 

 by one of their ends, one being sometimes attached at the end of ano- 

 ther. The larvee are short, tliick, and fleshy, with the anterior part of 

 the bod}^ somewhat attenuated ; they are much wrinkled, of an ashy 

 colour, with the head and six scaly articulated legs, as well as two ob- 

 long spots on the first segment, black ; they also possess a terminal 

 fleshy proleg, and the underside of the abdominal segments is fur- 

 nished with small tubercles, serving as legs ; the sides of the abdo- 



