11 



lustre and a pale green colour, sometimes turning to yellow ; and 

 varies in shape from an ovate to an oblate spliaeroid. A circular 

 space on its summit is smooth, and from hence proceed about 

 twenty-four longitudinal ribs, the intervals between whicli are 

 crossed by obsolete stricB. 



The young larva is of the same colour with the egg, is marked by 

 seven longitudinal black lines of hairs, and has a dirty yellowish 

 head. When fully grown it is cylindrical, is without hinder pro- 

 tuberance on the penultimate segment, and has the more usual six- 

 teen feet: it rarely rolls itself into a ring. Its head is sessile and 

 red, with usually nearly twenty black spots, several of which seem 

 to be tolerably constant; the mandibles are black. The protkorax 

 is velvety black, with a white dorsal line and two or three white 

 irregular spots at the sides ; but the proportion of white varies, and 

 there is sometimes a slight red spot on the back of the segment. 

 The body varies from pale yellowish green to a flesh colour, with 

 five paler longitudinal lines, of which the middle one is dorsal : the 

 false feet are somewhat paler than the body ; the true feet are red. 

 The mesothoracic segment is rarely spotted, but all the others are 

 often marked more or less with black spots. The spiracles are 

 usually black. Each segment is furnished with about six hairs, 

 which are white, and nearly one fifth as long as the whole body. 



The pupa is not at all angular, but is rather gaily coloured; it is 

 of a yellowish brown, with the thorax paler and the wings darker. 

 The head is rounded and is marked, as well as the mesothorax, with 

 several black spots; on the latter these are interspersed with points: 

 the abdominal segments are each marked transversely with numer- 

 ous black linear dots. The position of the pupa is horizontal, in 

 an oval cocoon composed of a loose dirty-yellow silk, (with meshes 

 so few and so lax as to allow the inmate to be readily seen,) and 

 spun about withered or dead leaves. 



The perfect insect is truly diurnal, swift in its flight, mounting 

 high in the air, and travelling inland for two or three leagues, where 

 it haunts gardens in great numbers. By far the greater number, 

 however, remain on the sea-shore, sporting about the leaves of the 

 Coccoloba uvifera, unless when depositing their eggs on the Omjjha. 

 lea. Its habit of frequenting the Coccoloba induced Mr. MacLeay 

 to search long in vain for its larva on that tree. When it alights, 

 all the four wings are expanded horizontally, and rarely, if ever, 

 take a vertical position. 



Mr. MacLeay concludes this portion of his paper by referring to 

 Madame Merian's description of the metamorphosis of Ur. Leilus, 

 and to her figure of its larva; both of which he regards as unworthy 

 of credit. He then passes to her account of a bird-catching Spider. 



The story of a Spider which catches and devours birds had, Mr. 

 MacLeay believes, its origin with Madame Merian. Oviedo, Labat, 

 and Rochefort make no mention of any Spider as possessing such 

 habits, the two latter writers going no further than the statement 

 that in the Bermudas there exists one which makes nets of so strong 

 a construction as to entangle small birds. Madame Merian, however, 



