1871.] 261 
Harwood, of Colchester, and in this instance especially for all the trouble he has so 
kindly and repeatedly taken to furnish me with larve of our two British species of 
Chesias. For three seasons in succession I have thus taxed his patience, because 
I did not like to speak before I had made quite sure of the distinctive characters of 
these larve, and had satisfied myself still further by breeding the moths. 
From eggs of spartiatw forwarded by me to Mr. Hellins in October, 1868, the 
larva were hatched in February, 1869, earlier probably than is natural to the 
species, on account of their not being exposed to the cold, but the imago was not 
bred till October 9th; the time for finding the larva at large appears to be the 
month of May or thereabouts, and so far as my experience goes, September and 
October are the months for the moth; there is no sign of an earlier brood. 
Of the egg of obliquaria I cannot speak; but the larvee were sent me by the 
Rey. E. N. Bloomfield and Mr. Harwood, on July 20th, and again on September 6th 
and 26th, 1869; the perfect insects appearing this year (1870), the earlier batch be- 
tween the 17th and 21st of May, and the later between the 16th and 20th of June ; 
with this species also, therefore it appears there is one brood in the year, variable in 
the period of its flight. 
i now offer descriptions of the full-grown larvae, giving first the points in which 
they are both alike, and afterwards those in which they differ. 
Both species then have the same food-plant, Spartiwm scopariwm, and are alike 
in form ; when full-grown, they are about an inch or a trifle more in length, uni- 
formly cylindrical and slender: the last two segments tapering a little to the end 
of the anal flap; when they are stretched out at full length in repose, the head is 
bent down and the legs drawn up towards it, an attitude which gives rather a swol- 
len look to the anterior extremity; the ventral and anal pro-legs are moderately 
well developed. 
Spartiata is generally of a deep full green on the back, sometimes rather 
yellower-green on the sides; it has a dorsal line of much darker green between two 
lines of paler green than the ground colour ; the sub-dorsal broad stripe is as dark 
as the dorsal line, and is edged above and below with a fine thread of much paler 
green; the spiracular region is puffed, the spiracles red, faintly outlined with black ; 
the inflated sub-spiracular stripe is either primrose-yellow or white, melting a little 
above into the green; the anal flap is often rather a deeper green than the ground 
colour ; the ordinary minute tubercular dots are in the usual position, each bearing 
a short brown bristle: the ventral surface is green with three pale stripes of 
whitish-green, the central being the widest. A yellow variety of this larvee often 
occurs, exhibiting more or less distinctly the details above described ; it is generally 
found feeding on the broom blossoms, to which it assimilates well. 
Obliquaria is either of a full-green or inclining to bluish-green in the ground 
colour, the dorsal line of much darker green is edged with a line of very bluish- 
green much paler than the ground colour; the sub-dorsal line is thin, yellow or 
greenish-white, very finely edged above sometimes, and always below with a line of 
dark green,—this pale sub-dorsal line is, by aid of a lens, seen to be composed of 
numerous little transverse bars or streaks with the slightest interval of the ground 
- colour between them; the rather broad inflated sub-spiracular stripe is pure white 
} or yellowish-white ; between the sub-dorsal line and the sub-spiracular stripe there 
is a very thin and fine tortuous line of very bluish-green, paler than the ground 
