113 



by its surroundings that has yet come under my notice. The colour 

 of the newly-hatched larva is a pale bright green, but it is covered 

 with a number of whitish hairs which give it a soft greyish-green tone 

 that exactly matches the colour of the ivy bud, and the position that 

 it selects when resting is the junction of the bud-stalk with the bud ; 

 the two or three anterior segments resting on the under side of the 

 bud are pressed closely against it, the remainder of the body lying 

 stretched along the stalk, so that when the bud is viewed from the 

 top the larva is so far hidden as to be virtually invisible ; and when 

 held up sidewise the resemblance to a slight thickening of the stalk, 

 at its junction with the bud, is so complete that one would not 

 suspect the presence of a larva without first being assured that one 

 was there. Throughout its life the larva is very sluggish, seldom 

 leaving the head of buds on which it is hatched, so long as sufficient 

 food remains for its nourishment, or occasionally when about to 

 moult. In many cases I found nearly full-fed larvae on the same 

 head of buds on which they had evidently been hatched ; but in 

 some few cases where the empty egg-shell and traces of feeding 

 showed that the buds had been tenanted, but the larva was absent, 

 it was usually to be found on the back of one of the nearest ivy 

 leaves, and, I think, in each case in the act of moulting. 



From what I have already said it will be gathered that the food of 

 the larva consists of the soft portions of the inside of the ivy flower- 

 bud ; and although those I had in captivity were throughout supplied 

 with young leaves as well, they were in no case eaten, nor were any 

 of the expanded blossoms, which I also gave them, touched. The 

 larva appears to feed only at night, and its manner of feeding, which 

 is the same throughout its life, is as follows. A bud having been 

 selected for a meal, a round hole is eaten through the outer shell 

 sufficiently large for the head to pass freely through, but not large 

 enough for the anterior segments to enter ; they consequently press 

 closely upon the outside of the bud, while the head is stretched for- 

 ward through the hole, and free to move from side to side inside the 

 bud. In the case of a large larva the whole of the soft inside of the 

 bud is devoured, but the younger larvte appear to be able to reach 

 only the portion of the inside nearest to the hole. It is somewhat 

 remarkable that the fact of the buds having been thus eaten does 

 not prevent them ultimately expanding ; but, of course, when they 

 do so they are minus stamens, completely or partially as the case 

 may be. In from four to six weeks from the time of hatching the 

 larva is full-grown. It then quits the buds, and having selected an 

 adjacent leaf, attaches itself to it by slender silken threads, and in a 

 few days becomes a pupa, in which state it of course passes the 

 winter. 



But by no means all of the larvae that attach themselves for pupa- 

 tion reach that stage. Of the thirty that I brought home with me, 

 more than half, instead of becoming pupre within three or four days 

 after affixing themselves to the leaves, rem.ained for nearly a fortnight 



