LIFE-HISTORY OF ANOSIA PLEXIPPUS. • 381 



structure it resembles a jfinely modelled jade ornament encircled 

 and studded with highly burnished gold, rather than a living 

 object. 



Lateral view : head blunt and slightly rounded, forming a 

 continuous curve with the meso-thorax ; the meta-thorax and 

 first three abdominal segments form a straight inclined line, the 

 abdomen then curving to apex, which terminates in a long shining 

 black cremaster amply furnished with a cluster of black hooks at 

 the extremity, the ventral surface of abdomen rounded, it then 

 runs in a straight line from apex of wings to head. ^ 



The posterior edge of the third abdominal segment is beautifully 

 adorned by a dorsal belt reaching to the hind margin of the wings, 

 the knobs of which are tri-coloured ; the front edge is intensely 

 black and shining, the hinder half of highly polished nacreous 

 splendour, reflecting the intensely brilliant gilded band on which 

 they are situated ; there are six other equally brilliant gilded discs 

 running in an oblique line on each side from the head to the 

 surface of the meso-thorax and one in the disc of wing. In the 

 posterior centre of the anal segment is a medio-dorsal black spot, 

 a pair of black points on the ventral surface, and two black mark- 

 ings running from the cremaster; the spiracles are slightly raised 

 and whitish. The entire structural details are very inconspicu- 

 ously outlined ; the abdominal segments from the third are very 

 narrow, producing a stunted rounded cone. The whole ground 

 colour is a pale glaucous-green ; for the first few hours after 

 pupation the colour is a deeper yellow-green and the orna- 

 mentations opaque yellow. It is very firmly attached by the 

 cremastral hooks to a small but dense pad of silk. 



The first one, which pupated on June 9th, 1911, began to 

 show signs of emergence on June 22nd, by the thorax becoming 

 changed to a duller leaden-green. It gradually turned duller all 

 over and finally became uniformly of a leaden hue, but the gold 

 ornamentation still retaining the brilliancy, and the markings 

 of the imago appeared on the morning of the 24th, and it (a 

 female) emerged at 3 p.m. that day, remaining fifteen days in 

 the pupal state. The imago was fully developed in twenty 

 minutes after emergence. 



The descriptions of the colouring of the egg and larva in first 

 stage, given by Scudder in his ' Butterflies of New England,' 

 p. 724, and copied by English authors, do not agree with either 

 the eggs or young larvae which I had under observation. 



Scudder describes the egg as " very pale amber-green, 

 becoming greyish before hatching." All the eggs I obtained 

 showed no green at any stage of their existence ; all were very 

 pale primrose-yellow from the first (as I saw some being 

 deposited), and remained unchanged until shortly before hatching 

 when they became still paler. The egg is also stated to be " long 

 and oval in shape." The same author also says the larva in 



