574 Mr. C. L. Withycombe's Notes on 



Nothochrysa capitata Fabricius. 



Wing exi^anse 30-36 mm. Coloxir dai'k brown with head orange- 

 brown. Nothochrysa is of very distinct appearance from Chryso2:a, 

 its colour being brown instead of green. There is also a venational 

 character, vide MacLachlan (9). 



The species appears to be confined to conifers, from v/hicli 

 it may be beaten during July and August. Its flight is 

 very peculiar, fairly rapid and direct. Impregnated 

 females may be noticed in flight by the conspicuous white 

 mass on the dorsal surface of the hind abdomen. It is 

 not a common species. 



Eggs (Plate XLII, fig. 10) are laid on pine needles; 

 commencing at the tip of a needle they are deposited radi- 

 ally. From two to thirt)''- eight have been observed in a 

 single cluster. The egg is oval, slightly more than 1 mm. 

 long, and broader than the egg of ChrysojM. It is supported 

 by a very stout and rigid footstalk about 7 mm. long. In 

 the case of all eggs from vigorous females the stalk is knotted 

 at regular intervals, or moniliform, as though it had been 

 drawn out in a succession of jerks. This and its rigidity 

 are very characteristic of Nothochrysa. In colour the egg 

 is at first green, but laber darkens to grey. Hatching 

 takes place in from eleven to twelve days at 63° F. 



The first-instar larva is bufi-coloured, wnth the thorax 

 slightly greenish. The head is dark. Legs translucent, 

 colourless, tarsal claws and empodium black. All the 

 setae on the dorsal surface of the body are hooked at their 

 extremities and curl over the back. Some debris is carried 

 throughout life. The sccond-instar larva resembles that 

 of the tliird instar. 



Descrij)iion of Third-ivstar Larva. (Plate XLII, fig. 5.) 



Length when full fed 9-10 mm. Colour dark brown Avith meso- 

 and metathoracic prominences orange-brown, but not well developed. 



Head above almost entirely fuscous or blackish, markings obscure, 

 but there are two very distinct black spots about the middle, on 

 border of frontal suture, always present. From the base of the 

 head forward to frontal suture arc two fuscous patches covering the 

 hind portion of the dorsal surface. It is on the anterior margins of 

 these patches that the conspicuous black spots are placed. 

 Anteriorly to these, near the middle line are two or three more 

 pairs of blackish spots, but often less conspicuous. Lato7'ally tho 



