556 Notes in 1887 upon lepidopterous larve, cc. 
by 1:9 mm.: they were rather flattened on the upper 
surface, and a slight central depression appeared. ‘The 
ovum shown in Plate XVII., fig. 2, x 7, was drawn from 
the edge. The shape was very like that of Smerinthus 
or Sphinx, but the size was somewhat larger, and the 
dark brown colour very different from that of any 
Sphinx hitherto described. This colour is, however, an 
obvious adaptation to the habit of oviposition upon bark 
instead of leaves. 
Stage I.—The following observations were conducted 
upon seven sets of larve, arranged and fed as follows: 
—One set of 15 larve upon birch; three sets of 4, 4, and 
7 larvee upon beech; three sets of 8, 8, and 9 larve upon 
copper-beech. The larve hatched upon the following 
dates :— 
May 16th,—15 larve. 
», L7th, 18th, 19th,—15 larve. 
», Oth, 21st, 22nd,—12 larve. 
», 2rd, 24th,—13 larve. 
Hence the period of development in the egg appears to 
occupy about 31 days. The lengths of the stages will 
be chiefly taken from the larve which hatched May 16th, 
as these were kept together, and constituted the set fed 
upon birch. 
- The newly-hatched larve are 6°25 mm. long, this and 
all other measurements being taken from the anterior 
part of the head to the posterior end of the short red 
spine which terminates the anal flap. The caudal and 
thoracic spines were always excluded from the measure- 
ment, because the length of the larva would have varied, 
according to the angle at which they were held. 
Although the size of the aperture through which the 
larve emerged varied considerably, they did not eat large 
amounts of the shell as in Sphinx, Smerinthus, &c. An 
examination of the empty shells makes it probable that 
the larve do not eat the egg-shells after emergence. 
The long caudal horn of the young Sphinx larva is of 
the full length immediately after hatching. Before 
hatching it is quite soft, and is curved round inside the 
egg-shell, and closely pressed against the latter, so that 
it can be plainly seen by the use of a lens. In Aglia, 
however, there are the four long thoracic spines in 
addition to the caudal horn, and they are all disposed 
