ENTOMOLOGICAL NOTES FROM THE RIVIERA. 115 



a nice (?) wet day for the purpose, I have been examinin.t^ the larva of 

 a SpilntliyrKu on mallow, and speculating as to the significance of the 

 disproportion between the size of the head and of the prothorax in 

 Hesperids. It is a character of the whole family, and not so far as I 

 know of any other. Such isolated cases as that of Mnma orio)i are 

 not precisely similar, and must have a totally different meaning. 

 There are various indications in the structure of all stages of Hes- 

 perids that they arise from a C'o.ssf^^-like form, but we have nothing 

 preserved to the present day of the intermediate stages, though (Jastnia 

 and, even more doubtfully perhaps, some other forms are probably side- 

 branches someAvhere by the way. We are left, therefore, very much to 

 speculation as to how such a larva as that of a Hesperid can be derived 

 from one like Cossns ov Ilrpiahia. Of the few tangible points that strike 

 me about my Sidlnthi/rns, and a similar observation would be correct I 

 think about the feAV other Hesperids I have seen as larv£e, a chief one 

 is that the larva does not eat any portion of its nest on the one hand, 

 nor does it go far afield for its food on the other. It turns over a 

 corner of a leaf, or takes two pieces of leaf to make its nest, and eats 

 portions of the leaf or leaves so used, but does not go to another one, 

 though it will leave its nest to a distance of twice its own length. 

 Other larvcT that make nests very commonly vary from this in one or 

 other of two ways, they either eat portions of the nest, or they go a 

 great way off for their food. Tortricids for instance commonly turn 

 in a margin for food, and as they eat it away roll over more leaf. 

 Gelechia jiojitdella and many others do the same. Charaxn^ jasiits on 

 the other hand, I refer to jasiiis as I have it by me and so find it occur 

 to me more readily, goes to another branch for its food, and this is the 

 rule I think for larv?e like C.jasiiia, whose nest is not a closed one, but a 

 pad of silk, exposing the larva on the surface of a leaf. Gregarious 

 larvfe, whose nests are conspicuous, like Porthesia chnjsorrhoea, 

 Eriof/aster lanestris, Cnethocanipa jntyocampa are rarely particular in 

 this matter, and some like P. chrysorrJioca give a very ruinous appear- 

 ance to their nest and its vicinity, making it look like the result of 

 severe damage to the tree by storm or blight. Other nest-makers 

 have even more curious and definite habits, such for example as the 

 Xyloryctrias. I take it for granted then that there is a certain ten- 

 dency more marked in Hesperids than in any other nest-makers, to do 

 their feeding outside the nest, but at a point as close to the nest as 

 possible. My SjnlothyrKs, though certainly by no means belonging to 

 the lower section of the family, presents a character that often appears 

 in the family, and is, therefore, probably present in the lowest groups, 

 and is more or less a family characteristic, that is, that the body is 

 of a neutral grey tint, whilst the head and prothorax are coloured, 

 the head black, and the second segment black and yellow. I find 

 further that there is a little more freedom of flexure at the second 

 segment than elsewhere. I assume then that the original ('o.ss».s-like 

 larva living in the interior of stems, of probably grass-like plants, 

 came to the exterior, perhaps by eating up the central bud of the plant, 

 and then drew together the leaves around for protection. Acquiring 

 thus an appetite for green leaves rather than interior structures, it still 

 felt it impossible to protrude more than its head from its nest, 

 either as a matter of habit, difficult to overcome, or under the com- 

 pulsion of watchful enemies. A narrow second segment would then 



