53G 



Mr. C. L. Withycombe's Notes on 



Body white with two latero-dorsal, longitudinal, brown bands 

 interrupted inter-segmentally. These latero-dorsal bands commence 

 at once in the prothorax. Prothoracic sclerites pale in colour or 

 blackish, crescent-shaped, imbedded in the brov/n, latero-dorsal 

 lines. Between them the median dorsal dark line terminates. 

 Meso- and metathorax each with a pair of brown, somewhat 

 triangular blotches, forming part of the latero-dorsal bands. The 

 sclerites of these two segments are shortly crescentic, but the cres- 

 cents turn inwards instead of, as in the prothorax, outwards. 



In the abdomen the latero-dorsal brown bands continue as tri- 

 angular spots on each segment. Posteriorly these spots run into 

 one another, tending to form continuous bands. The middle area 

 between the two bands is white, with a bluish tinge anteriorly. 

 The median dorsal line is blackish anteriorly and more brown in 

 the last few abdominaJ segments, depending, of course,- for its 

 colour, purely on the gut contents. Laterally the abdomen is white, 

 sometimes with a trace of a lateral, sunken, blackish line, but this 

 is more noticeable in meso- and metathorax. Underside of body 

 greyish-white, often mottled with brown. 



The iarva of //. humuli is very similar to that of H. 

 lutescens and it is frequently almost impossible to distin- 

 guish between the two. It can only be said that most 

 humuli larvae are more brilliant in coloration, as a rule. 

 The central mark of the head does not usually continue so far 

 forward as it does in lulesceyis. 



For pupation a loose cocoon of white silk, 4-5 mm. long, 

 is spun among dead leaves or moss, etc. The pupa is 

 yellow in colour, with eyes dark brown. Later it becomes 

 brown on the sides of the dorsum. Wings also darken 

 just before emergence, which occurs in from one to two 

 weeks after pupation, in summer. Winter is passed as a 

 pale yellow larva, curled up within the cocoon and pupating 

 in March or April, prior to the appearance of the imago. 



The first two examples in the table are from eggs of one 

 female, and give a very average summer life-cycle. The 



