CONTRIBUTION TO THE LIFE-HISTORY OF HELIOTHIS PELTIGERA. 285 



pale ochreous in colour, the dorsal vessel appearing as a dark grey 

 line. There is a slender, pale, subdorsal line, and traces of a pale sub- 

 spiracular. The prothoracic shield is ochreous-brown ; the anal shield 

 is small. There is a dark patch at the base of the anal claspers. The 

 body is covered with blunt black spicules, rather more numerous than 

 in the first instar. On the prothorax, the two tubercles, on a common 

 plate situated just below the shield, carry hairs of more equal length 

 than in the first instar. Both meso- and metathorax have now two, 

 or rather four, additional tubercles, two on each side of the larva. 

 One is situated between, and behind, iv and v, with a rather short 

 hair, and the other, smaller, is just below v. The hairs of both these 

 are pointed. The primary tubercles arise from large brown plates ; 

 they are black, and well raised, and carry one hair slightly swollen at 

 the apex, the basal two-thirds black, and the apical third grey or 

 whitish. The length of these hairs, on tubercles i, ii, and iii, is about 

 0-17mm., on iv and v about half that length. Third instar : Length 

 6-6mm. ; width of head 0*66mm. Head and thoracic legs black. 

 Ground colour of the body pale yellowish -grey. Dorsal stripe broad, 

 dark grey, bordered on each side by a series of pale dots. Pale whitish 

 subdorsal and spiracular stripes. Abdominal prolegs very dark 

 grey. Anal claspers yellowish, with basal marks black. Anal shield 

 with a blackish border. Spiracles black-rimmed, rather raised, and 

 surrounded by a brownish plate. There is a strong whitish flange. 

 There are four subsegments on the meso- and metathorax ; all the 

 primary tubercles are on the third subsegment. The abdominal 

 segments appear to have also four subsegments. The second sub- 

 segment carries i, iii, and the spiracle, while tubercle ii is on the third 

 subsegment. Prothoracic shield somewhat quadrate, yellowish ; lateral 

 and posterior borders edged with black. Down the centre are three 

 pairs of black marks ; on the anterior border are four black tubercles, 

 ■each bearing one long white hair, and on the posterior are also four 

 black tubercles, each with a shorter dark hair. The primary tubercles 

 are on very large raised plates (0-lOmm. in diameter), practically 

 colourless, but with an irregular black border ; the tubercles are black, 

 surmounted by a whitish hair, bluntly pointed at the apex. The hairs 

 of i and iii measure 0-3mm., and that of ii 0-4mm. The additional 

 tubercles on the meso- and metathorax, as described in the account of 

 the second instar, have dark pointed hairs. In this third instar the 

 black spicules, covering the larval skin, are rather more numerous than 

 in the second instar, and they vary much in size. Some of them, 

 especially numerous on the subdorsal area, have developed into secondary 

 skin-hairs, and consist of a small black tuberclar point, with a very 

 short, stout, pointed spine at the apex, the tubercle and spine together 

 measuring 0-03mm. The most curious feature, however, in this instar, 

 is the presence on the skin of short (also about 0-03mm.) white truncated 

 rods. These appear to rise directly from the skin, without any kind 

 of tubercular base, but the area immediately around them is devoid of 

 spicules, as it is around the bases of the primary tubercles. These 

 points are situated chiefly on each side of the dorsal stripe; they also 

 form the white borders of the subdorsal stripe, and are scattered also 

 over the dorsal and spiracular areas. Fourth instar: Length 11mm. 

 Head narrower than the prothorax, black, much marbled with ochreous 

 on the face. Body slender, slightly flattened on the dorsum ; segmental 



