1872.] 207 
any tree, and where the young, as a matter of course, would perish for want of 
food. The larvze emerge in about fourteen days, feed for a short while, and then 
retire under loose bark, &c., where they spin tiny white cocoons in which to pass 
the winter. These cocoons are not easily found, as, besides being of small size, 
they soon assume the colour of the bark. About the end of April the young larva 
commence to feed again, and may then be observed, on any warm day, stretched 
at full length on the trunks of the trees and on the lower branches. They are 
grimy little fellows when small, and difficult to detect ; but, when full-grown, are 
nearly the most conspicuous larvae we have. They appear to be almost exempt 
from the attacks of ichneumons, as I can only remember one instance of those 
parasites in a larva; and birds apparently will not eat them. On one occasion I 
presented one to a tame starling ; the bird inspected it for a moment or two as it 
crawled on the floor, as if he could not exactly make up his mind whether it were 
fit to eat or not; then, no doubt fancying that a creature adorned with such brilliant 
colours would make an exceptionally dainty dish, he seized and gave it a good shak- 
ing (as all birds do when they pick up a caterpillar), but, instead of swallowing it, 
he jerked it from him to a considerable distance with unmistakeable signs of dis- 
gust, and would never afterwards touch one; he treated the larvee of neustria, 
auriflua and chrysorrhea in the same scornful manner. I do not know whether it 
has been noticed before, but I observed that the larve of salicis spun cocoons in 
which to undergo their changes of skin up to the fourth change, but not beyond 
that.—Grrvase F, Matuzw, Admiralty House, Devonport, 16th December, 1871. 
Natural history of Apamea unanimis.—On the 1st of March, 1868, I found from 
grass a larva unknown to me at that time, which I figured, and on the 3rd it spun 
up; the moth appeared on the 5th of June following, and proved to be of this 
species. On my comparing my figure of this larva with that of unanimis by 
Hiibner, the difference between them was so great as to lead me to suppose mine 
could not be a typical representative of the species, and I resolved to wait till more 
Jarvze could be found, either to prove or disprove the correctness of my supposition 
before offering any description for publication. But I can now say, after having had 
examples of the larva from Norfolk, Devonshire, and Hampshire, which differed in 
no way from the one above mentioned, that I have no doubt of this, which I am 
about to describe, being the typical form of the larva, at least in this country. 
Unfortunately, I can say but little of the egg-state, and nothing of the juvenile 
larva; for though some years ago I imprisoned a female moth in a pot with grow- 
ing Aira flexuosa covered with leno, the eggs she deposited were allowed to hatch, 
and the young larvee to escape during my absence from home : I had, however, 
previously noted that the eggs were of a pale drab colour, and were all adhering 
+o the blades or leaves of the fine grass about four or five inches from the soil. 
Besides Triticwm repens and other grasses, this larva seems partial to a variety 
of Phalaris, the striped ribband grass of gardens. On the approach of cold weather 
it seeks a hybernaculum often in the loose grassy sods at the foot of a tree, par- 
ticulary affecting decayed willows, and occasionally under the bark, and sometimes 
within the tree itself, amongst the rotten dust. At the end of February or begin- 
ning of March it wakes up, but not to feed again, and after crawling about for a 
few nights, finds a suitable place for pupation. Some of the larvee Thad in captivity 
