30 CLADIUS VIMINALTS. 



above is a large oval black mark. When full fed, the 

 body is entirely orange except the legs and the above- 

 mentioned black marks. The body is rather flat, 

 broader in front than behind ; the skin is beset with 

 tubercles, from each of which proceeds a longish hair; 

 the segments are well marked. 



The eggs, according to Van Vollenhoven, are de- 

 posited in the leaf-stalk of the poplar, which becomes 

 thereby swollen on both sides and bent over so as to 

 partially cover the eggs. In one case ten eggs were 

 laid on one and eight on the other side of the stalk. 

 When young the larvae are green, with black heads ; 

 it is not till the second moult that the orange colour 

 appears. 



The Iarva3 feed in company on the underside of the 

 leaves of the poplar, in a row of three to five on a leaf, 

 each larva touching its neighbour. They eat only the 

 epidermis, never making holes in the leaf like the other 

 species. There is, I believe, only one brood in the 

 year, namely, during August and September. The 

 cocoon is double, thin and yellow in colour, and in 

 confinement is spun between the leaves ; outside I 

 believe it is usually spun between loose bark. 



I think the larvae go down to the earth during the 

 heat of the day ; at any rate, I have only found them 

 during the evening feeding on the leaves. When full 

 fed I have found them walking up the trunks of trees 

 apparently in search of a suitable place to pupate. 



The pupa is orange. 



As parasites Brischke records (Sch. Ges. Konig., 

 xi). Mesoleius rufus, Gr. ; Polyblastus sanguine- 

 torius, Rtz. ; Acrotomus lucidulus, Gr. ; Polysphincta 

 areolaris, Rtz. 



Commonly distributed in Britain. 



Continental distribution : Sweden, Holland, Ger- 

 many, France. 



