1284 The Zoologist— June, 1868. 



only one of them can find food enough to enable it to arrive at 

 maturity ; so probably the strongest one devours its weaker brethren 

 when food becomes scarce, or else they die from hunger. 



Description of the Larva of Polyphemus. — When fully grown this 

 larva measures over three inches in length, and the body is very thick. 

 The head is of a light chestnut-brown colour ; the body of a handsome 

 transparent light yellowish green, with seven oblique lines, of a pale 

 yellowish colour, on each side of the body ; the segments are each 

 adorned with six tubercles, giving rise to a few hairs, which are tinted 

 sometimes with orauge, with a silvery spot on the middle : there are 

 six rows of protuberances, two on the back and two on each side, and 

 the oblique lines run between the two rows of lateral tubercles uniting 

 the lower one to the upper one by a yellowish line. The under side 

 of the body is longitudinally striped with a faint yellowish band; the 

 spiracles are of a pale orange colour, and the feet are brown. The 

 posterior part is bordered by a purplish brown angular line similar to 

 the letter V. 



Description of the Pupa. — The pupa is much of the form and size 

 of a robin's egg; the colour is dark chestnut-brown, with a pale 

 greenish spot at the base of the antennae. The form of the legs, 

 wings and antennae are distinctly marked, while the posterior part is 

 furnished with a brush of minute hooks. 



For a description of the moth see the ' Synopsis of Lepidoptera,' 

 by Dr. J. G. Morris (published by the Smithsonian Institution, 

 Washington), only observing that there are at least six varieties — the 

 yellow, the ferruginous, the brown, the greenish, the pale cream- 

 colour, and another variety with the black lunule on the secondaries 

 replaced by a ferruginous spot. The male can be easily distinguished 

 from the female by its lighter form and by its smaller abdomen, which 

 is not so highly coloured as that of the female ; but the most striking 

 difference is in the antennae; those of the male are pectinated, broad, 

 and like two feathers adorning the head, while those of the female are 

 narrow and very much smaller. 



Description of the Egg. — The egg is about one-tenth of an inch 

 in diameter, almost cylindrical, with the two ends convex. The 

 cylindrical surface is brown, with a narrow white spot about one-half 

 the width of the egg ; the two convex parts are white. One hundred 

 of them weigh, on the day they are laid, eight grains; but an evapora- 

 tion of the fluid contents of the body takes place, and on the day the 

 young hatch out the same number weigh only six and two-third grains : 



