300 Mr. Poulton's/^/7'^/icr notes upon tlie 



the shagreened appearance in the third stage (page 203). 

 So also, on page 246, he describes the larva of Macro- 

 glossa stellatarum in the first stage as " set with small 

 single bristles," and he figures tubercles at the base of 

 the bristles (plate iii., fig, 1) ; but he describes the 

 shagreening as appearing for the first time in the fourth 

 stage (page 247). Inasmuch as I have proved that the 

 shagreen dots of the adult Macroglossa larva terminate 

 in minute hairs, there can be no doubt of the real origin 

 of the dots in the first stage, where the hairs are more 

 apparent. 



7. The origin of the oblique and other lines in 



Sphingid.e. — Last year I suggested that these stripes 



were primarily due to the linear arrangement and large 



size of some of the shagreen dots, and that secondarily 



the ground colour became aflected. This suggestion 



followed from an examination of a larva of S. occllatus, 



in which the colours had undergone the changes which 



precede pupation. It was then seen that all the white 



had faded from the ground colour of the oblique stripes, 



but that the latter could still be distinctly traced by the 



ilisposition of large shagreen dots. The paragraph upon 



this subject concluded with the words, "It is very 



probable that the origin of the white markings from the 



shagreen dots can be proved in the ontogeny." It seems 



to me that this suggested origin is now abundantly 



proved in the ontogenies described in the present paper. 



In Sphinx lujustri it is very marked in all stages except 



the last, and it occurs even in this (in the anterior 



inferior extremities of the stripes). In the other stages, 



directly after ecdysis, the oblique stripes consist of dots 



only without any change in the ground colour (see 



fig. 9, X 4, &c., Plate VII.). Later, in some of the 



stages, the bases of the dots spread into the ground 



colour, so that the latter is affected peripherally from 



the base of each dot. As this process continues the 



areas meet, and a continuous stripe results. Thus the 



history is repeated in most of the stages in the ontogeny. 



Some markings may remain in the condition of a row 



of dots only, even in the adult larva. This is the case 



with nearly all the markings of S. populi, or of the 



lines which border the dorsal vessel of S. ocellatus, &c. Or 



the same marking may show both conditions transitional 



into each other, as in the subdorsal of M. stdlatarnm, 



