Insects. 9829 



immediately removed to a separate box, and supplied with the petal of a rose, from 

 which, in a few minutes, it made up nine rosy "favours," and fastened them one by 

 one, with perfect regularity, upon its back. I then restored the rosy-favoured to its 

 green-aud-wliite-favoured companions, and it very soon joined them in gnawing away 

 at the oak-leaves, for nourishment now, having first satisfied the (shall I not say?) 

 natural craving for dress. They fed on slowly till the cold weaiher began, when they 

 fixed themselves to the under side of the oak-twigs, in a doubled-up posture, and 

 looked like little round tufts of vegetable dibris. I kept them through the winter in 

 an arbour open to the air, and did not lose one. In April I put into iheir flower-pot 

 some fresh twigs of oak, and split some of ihe buds. April I8th, they began to bore 

 round holes in the buds that had not been split, and to clean out the inside, seeming 

 quite to despise my rough endeavours to help them. When they were nearly full fed, 

 1 made the following description of one of them, having stripped off the tufts on one 

 side for the purpose: — Body flattened, attenuated towards head, which is of the same 

 colour as the body, reildish brown. Dorsal line and vvavy subdorsal line fuscous, 

 a row of dark fuscous spots underneath the spiracles. On each segment, from five to 

 nine (both inclusive), is a pair of dark brown papillEe, one outside each subdorsal line, 

 with a dark spot on the apex, furnished with a single hooked bristle (easily seen 

 through a good glass), and also a pair on the twelfth segment, to which the gnawiogs 

 are attached with silk. Being very curious to know how this was done, I put the 

 hall-undressed individual just described into a box covered with glass, together with 

 an oak-bud, just bursting into leaf. After surveying his new abode, previous to 

 eating, he firmly fixed himself by his claspers (anal pro-legs) to the bottom of the 

 bud, took hold of one of the brown scales encasing the bud by the top with his jaws, 

 and drew it with some force towards him, with the inieulion of pulling it off, if loose 

 (as some which he afterwards tried were); but as it was still firmly fixed at its 

 base, after two or three strong pulls, he began to gnaw ii off at the base ; having 

 effected which, he took it between his legs, turned it invariably vxith the con- 

 vex side towards him, which he overlaid with silk, and then, taking it in his jaws, 

 turned back his head and fixed it by the convex side to one of the naked papillae, not 

 contented with hooking it on, but winding silk about it at the point of connection. 

 After putting on two or three pieces, he refreshed himself by eating for a few minutes. 

 The new piece was not always put on a vacant papilla, but sometimes fastened with 

 silk to another piece on a papilla already covered. The larva, at this stage of its 

 existence, used almost exclusively the brown scales of the buds, probably as being so 

 easily detached, but did not seem to care whether they were long or short, rounded or 

 pointed ; consequently the tout ensemble had certainly a ragged and untidy appearance, 

 compared with the neatly-cut and symmetrically-arranged habiliments of earlier life. 

 The time, too, taken by the full-grown larva over dressing was much greater than that 

 required by the active infant. Although it only had one side to dress, it took some 

 hours about it. I began my experiment about 6 p. m., and the dressing was not over 

 at 10; but next morning I found all the papillee covered. Every time the larva 

 changed its skin the dress of course was changed with it; and when, on May 25th, it 

 changed to pupa (of the same colour as the larva) it was enclosed in a very loose net- 

 work, formed of the bits that covered it as a larva, fastened together with silk, and 

 attached to the under side of a twig. The first imago came out on June 20th. — Rev. 

 E. Horton {Pozvick, near Worcester, July, 18G5) in the '^Entomologist's Monthly 

 Magazine,^ ii. 91. 



