Notes in 1887 upon lepidopterous larve, dc. 557 
in a very different manner in the egg. They take the 
form of comparatively small curved tubercles, the 
cuticle of which is thrown into wrinkles. See Plate 
XVII., figs. 1, x 9 and 2, x 7, showing the appearance 
of the newly-hatched larva; compare with fig. 3. The 
spines possess this appearance when the larva first 
hatches, and are gradually expanded in the course of 
about twenty minutes by the contraction of the walls of 
the body, which forces blood into them. When thus 
expanded to its full extent the cuticle becomes hard and 
rigid, so that the shape is permanently fixed. This 
interesting arrangement is doubtless an adaptation 
rendered necessary by the size and number of the 
spines, which in their expanded form would occupy too 
large a space in the egg. The process is, in fact, 
entirely analogous to that by which the large wings of 
the lepidopterous imago are contained within the rela- 
tively small wings of the pupa. The advantage has 
been conferred and the difficulty met by similar adapta- 
tions. It is probable that a similar method for the 
production of rigid bristles or spines, after emergence 
from the egg, or after change of skin, will be found to be 
not uncommon among lepidopterous larve. A superficial 
examination of the larve of Vanessa Jo immediately after 
the last ecdysis seemed to indicate that the same process 
occurs in them, but I have preserved some of the larvee 
at various stages, and hope to investigate the subject by 
the microscopic examination of prepared sections. It 
is probable that the process is not in all cases one of 
expansion alone, but that there is also a partial eversion 
of the structures or of the secondary spines upon them. 
The striking appearance of the larva in this stage is 
shown in Plate XVIL., fig. 3, x 7. 
It will be necessary to enter into a somewhat minute de- 
scription of this stage of which the appearance is almost 
identical with that of the two following stages. The 
eround colour is bright green, with a darker median 
dorsal stripe caused by the underlying dorsal vessel : 
along each side is a white subspiracular line, which 
terminates anteriorly in the base of the prothoracic 
spine, while posteriorly it passes along the margin of 
the anal flap, and ends at the base of the red terminal 
spine. ‘There are seven complete oblique white stripes 
upon each side sloping in a posterior direction, with the 
2p 2 
