1871.] 19 
The dates of the transformations observed by me last year are as follows :— 
Mr. Birks sent me eggs, which arrived in the shape of young larve, on July 18th ; 
they fed up very rapidly, and began to spin on August 5th; and on the 20th I 
bred several moths ; these I could not get to pair, so Mr. Carrington, as mentioned 
above, forwarded eggs on Aucust 29th ; the larvee hatched on September 38rd, but, 
owing to my inability to supply them with fresh food in sufficient quantity (for 
Galium sazvatile is not plentiful here), dwindled away, and died ; and I thus lost the 
opportunity of deciding whether hybernation takes place in the pupal or in the 
larval stage. 
The egg is bluntly oval in outline, flattened, and with a shallow depression on 
the upper surface, pitted very shallowly all over; in colour pale yellowish, turning 
leaden at last. The newly-hatched larva is noticeably slender, dusky-olive in colour, 
with brownish head. 
For a time it remains of a dusky, pale green, but before long dons a more de- 
cided dress, dark green above, and pale green below. When about half-grown, the 
ground-colour is dull greyish-green, with a dull, dark green (almost blackish) fine 
dorsal line, a fine sub-dorsal line, and two stouter brownish-green lines just above the 
spiracles; belly of the ground colour, with central and two side-lines running 
through it, faint, except at the folds, where they show as strong purplish-brown 
dashes ; at this stage it is altogether duller looking than when full-grown. 
When full-grown, the length barely three-quarters of an inch, the figure cylin- 
drical, tapering slightly and gradually from the tenth segment to the head, which 
is as wide as the second segment; the skin smooth. 
The ground colour a yellowish-green, that on the hinder segments being of a 
more tender tint than the rest ; the back, from segments 4 to 9, both inclusive, more 
or less suffused with dull brownish-pink ; the head green with brownish bristles; the 
second segment full green, the third dull green, the dorsal line of a deeper tint of 
whatever colour it passes through, pink through the pink, and greenish after the 
ninth segment, and thickening almost into a narrow diamond as it passes each 
fold; the sub-dorsal line is pale, often edged above and below with a fine dark 
thread, the upper edging having a blackish dash at the beginning of each segment : 
the rest of the side is divided by a faint, pale line into two halves, of which the 
upper is of the same colour as the back, and the lower decidedly darker, and on its 
lower edge, at the beginning of each segment, is a black or blackish dash; the 
spiracles are reddish, and beneath them runs a pale reddish stripe ; the belly is of 
the ground colour. 
In some specimens the pink suffusion of the back is confined to the five folds 
between segments 4 to 9, and is softer in tint, and leaves the centre of these seg- 
ments of a tender green; the lines and dashes as above, but fainter. In others 
the pink may be called purplish ; all have the ventral prolegs tinged with purplish- 
brown, and with a dark dash down them. In some, again, a darker green takes the 
place of the pink dorsal suffusion. But in any case the full-grown larva has a soft 
delicate look. 
Many of my larvee spun among their food, others just under the soil, making 
a weak cocoon with a few silken threads. The pupa is short and cylindrical in 
figure, the eyes prominent, the abdomen short, the tail covered with the cast larva- 
skin ; the skin polished, the back dark brown, the wing cases, antennz, and belly 
of abdomen bronzy-grecn.—J. HEeLirins, Exeter, 21st February, 1871. 
