28l THE knto:\iologist's record. 



As fur as I was able to observe they fed in the day time only, prefer- 

 ably in the early morning and in the late evening. Generally after a 

 meal, at night time, and when very wet, they withdrew to the interior 

 of the nest. It may have been a coincidence only, but whenever they ■ 

 so retired one of their number remained upon the exterior, a stationary * 

 sentinel over those within. In addition to constructing a fresh nest the 

 larviB wove lines of webbing along the bare branch and branchlets 

 adjoining it, and when the sun shone they became most active, racing 

 after one another along the webbing at a surprising rate. Occasionally 

 first one and then another of them would take a hasty bite at a leaf of 

 their food-plant, but so long as the sun was shining brilliantly upon them 

 they seemed to prefer exercise to feeding. If disturbed at any time, 

 they fell from where they were lodged to the bottom of the net. The 

 larvae moulted twice after I had them, the first moult taking place 

 within ten days. They were then similar in appearance to the figures 

 1 and 1a, given in Buckler's Larvae, though, of course, not so large. 

 They again moulted about the middle of June, and after this, their 

 final moult, they were most beautiful in appearance, and I deeplyj 

 regretted my inability to paint a true picture of one of them. Accord- 

 ing to Newman the larvte pupate at the end of Jvme, but although^ 

 quite one half of those I had were by this date fully two inches in 

 length, and apparently full grown, they showed no inclination to spin 

 their cocoons, but continued to feed Avell until July 12th. They then 

 commenced to pupate, and by July 20th, all of them, with the excep- 

 tion of three or four, had formed cocoons. These were constructed 

 either within their nest or in a mixture of their own frass and dried 

 pieces of wasted food-plant. I was never successful in observing a 

 larva spin its cocoon, but this may have been due to my absence from 

 home during a portion of the time the larvte were so engaged. The 

 majority formed single cocoons, others double, while in some instances 

 a general cocoon was formed by three or more of the larvae. The 

 cocoons, oval in shape and measuring f" in length, and 1^" in circum- 

 ference, were principally of a whitish tint, a few were brownish and 

 one or two pale greenish. 



The Larva and Pupa of Malacosoma alpina. 



By J. W. TUTT, F.E.H. 

 The possession of a species so very similar to others that one has 

 known for many years is always interesting, and when this similarity 

 is continued through all the stages of the insect's existence, it becomes 

 still more interesting. Such an insect is ]\[alacoso)ini alpina, found 

 only at very high elevations, yet so like M. castrcnsis and M. uciistria 

 in some respects that it is difficult to separate certain stages of them 

 except by careful study. The larvjB described were obtained at Fusio 

 during the second week of July, 1899, at an elevation of from G,000ft. 

 to 7,600ft., on the low plants growing there. "Where this batch was 

 found others were exceedingly numerous. The individuals in each 

 nest appear to be of about the same size, although those of different 

 nests vary much in size. When full-fed they leave the nest and 

 wander about solitarily until pupation. They fed in confinement on 

 Alclioiiilla nih/ariti, and although tried on bilberry they ate it so 

 sparingly as almost to starve on it. They do not look particularly 



