Ivii 



remarking the unusual fulness of the abdomen, thought that it might be a 

 gravid female. It was, however, put aside in a drawer, and forgotten, till the 

 following evening, when it was found that it had laid four eggs of a pale 

 green colour, which remained attached to the extremity of the abdomen. 

 These were removed, and placed in a small box, where on the 17th (the 

 ninth day after capture) only one hatched, the caterpillar being hairy and 

 black, with a white tail. The young larva was tried with different food- 

 plants, but it refused to eat, and was found dead the following morning. 

 While it lived, however, they had made more observations on its appearance, 

 and had specially remarked "its black shining head, with two liairy horns 

 on each side, and a spot of white between them, and another spot on the 

 tail very conspicuous." 



The remaining ova and this starved larva were transmitted to Mr. Gosse 

 for more precise observation. They came in a dried state, in which con- 

 dition they were first examined, and then again after a brief maceration. 

 The specimens were forwarded in alcohol for exhibition. The following 

 is the author's description, made as completely as possible under the 

 circumstances : — 



" Ovum. — Outline a short ellipse, but since the shell has contracted in 

 the process of drying and taken a longitudintd fold, it was probably a 

 flattened globe when alive. Surface smooth, with a soft, satin-like radiance, 

 suggesting fine granulation, which, however, is not revealed by considerable 

 magnifying power. The contents of the egg have shrunk in drying into a 

 dark green clot, leaving the shell translucent and nearly colourless." 



"Larva. — Length, as now contracted, 0-1 inch. Form thick and 

 robust. Colour wholly intense black, except the 11th and 12th segments 

 (counting the head as the first), which are cream-white, forming an abruptly 

 defined and conspicuous white transverse band, which reaches from the 

 dorsum quite round to the venter. Head large, not capable of retraction 

 into the thorax, smooth, polished-black. On the prothorax stand two 

 enormous dorsal tubercles, pillar-like, subconical, each crowned by a great 

 globose knob ; the whole, but especially the knob, studded with spreading 

 stiff bristles. These tubercles are not perpendicular, but transverse- 

 diagonal in their direction. The meso- and meta-thoracic segments each 

 bear not only a dorsal but also a lateral pair of similar tubercles, only very 

 much smaller. The abdominal segments are studded with still bristles, 

 but are not furnished with tubercles until the 11th and 12th, on each of 

 which is the dorsal pair only, similar to those of the metathorax, but 

 wholly \Yhite, even to their bristles — in harmony with the ground-colour of 

 tliese two segments. Under the microscope, the knol)s of the tubercles are 

 seen to be only the aggregated bases of the bristles. These are pellucid, 

 rugose, broadly conical at the base, rapidly diminishing by two or three 

 apparent (not real) joints. The extremities of several are seen to be broken 



I 



