THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 229 
more than probable, from the fact that copulation does not 
take place till after midnight. The moths remain paired till 
five o'clock in the morning, a circumstance the most remark- 
able from the fact that the (British) species most closely 
allied to this remain in copulation but a very short time. 
The female does not begin to lay till the next day. The 
number of eggs deposited varies between one and two hundred: 
they are of a pale brown tint, thickly covered with dark- 
coloured down. The eggs hatch in the succeeding spring ; 
some in my possession hatched this year, on March 24th. 
The larve feed on both whitethorn and blackthorn, but seem to 
prefer the former in a state of nature: they are generally full 
fed from the 10th to the 20th of June, when they may be 
found on the road-side hedges in company with Neustria, &c. 
The larve are very variable, and strikingly handsome. The 
cocoon of this species is composed of fine particles of earth, 
and is lined inside with a coating of white silk : it is very com- 
pact, resembling closely that of Peecilocampa Populi.—G. H. 
Raynor; Hazeleigh Rectory, Maldon, Essex, Sept. 12, 1874. 
Life-history of Ligdia adustata.—The eggs were laid during 
the third week in July ; the caterpillars were hatched on the lst 
of August. When full grown they usually rest in a straight 
position along the stem of their food-plant, Euonymus Kuro- 
peus (common spindle tree), to which they have a marked 
resemblance in colour. The head is slightly larger than the 
2nd segment; the face almost white, mottled with reddish 
brown, and surrounded by a band of very dark brown, which 
becomes lighter in shade as it approaches the 2nd segment; 
on each side of the head, in a line with the spiracles and 
adjoining the 2nd segment, is a patch of very dark brown. 
The 2nd segment is smaller than the 3rd, and the 3rd smaller 
than the 4th, from which to the 11th the body of the cater- 
pillar is of uniform size, and then decreases.- On the anterior 
dorsal area of the 5th, 6th and 7th segments there is a small 
square brown patch, edged on both sides with white; this 
marking occurs again, but very indistinctly, on the 10th 
segment. The sides of the 5th and 6th segments are 
ornamented with an irregularly-shaped patch of various 
shades of brown, interspersed with small white marks. The 
legs are brown; the first pair of claspers, together with the 
skin-fold above them, are also brown, the latter variegated 
