7000 Insects. 



monlh. The larva certainly does not from choice eat the seeds of the 

 Silene when ripe and hard, but descends to feed on the leaves, and 

 may be found hidden under the plant, and not, like its allies, in the 

 capsules. 



Angerona prunaria. Three or four larvae, beaten from hazel and 

 mountain-ash, were for a time a great puzzle : their colour agreed 

 pretty well with the descriptions of this species, but the dorsal humps 

 did not ; especially that on the ninth segment, instead of being merely 

 bifid, was adorned with two long slender horns — curved backwards, 

 and this made me fancy they might belong to the next species. 



O. Pcricallia syringaria. These larvae, which I have now hyber- 

 nating small, on privet, are most wonderful creatures ; afflicted from 

 their birth with a most dreadful rheumatism or curvature of the spine, 

 whether eating, resting or moving, they preserve (as far as my obser- 

 vation goes) pretty much the position represented by Hiibner's figure, 

 copied in Plate 60 of Humphrey and Westwood. Other tree-feeding 

 loopers amuse themselves during their younger days by swinging at 

 the end of silken cords, stiff and straight as pokers ; P. syringaria 

 swings ; but still keeps its nose and heels in close contact, thus com- 

 bining something of the amusement of the low-feeders, who love to twist 

 themselves into notes of interrogation, figures of 2 and capital Qs. 



Amphydasis hetularia. I have seen three or four specimens of the 

 green variety of this larva, all of which had a pink dorsal line, and the 

 humps and spiracles of an orange colour. 



O. Hemerophila ahruptaria. Undoubtedly double-brooded ! From 

 eggs laid in May I bred the perfect insect in August ! Perhaps it 

 would be as well to mention that at the time these later moths 

 appeared some of the produce of the very same batch of eggs were 

 still feeding as larvae, though hatched at the same time and treated in 

 exactly the same way as their precocious brethren, one of whom awaits 

 with them the coming of next spring in the pupa state : I noticed that 

 the slow feeders attained a much greater size than the fast ones, and 

 expect to breed larger moths from them. When first hatched these 

 larvae have a beautiful purple stripe on the back, but they soon 

 lose it. 



O. Acidalia imitaria. Two or three loopers hatched from I know 

 not what eggs in August, 1858, produced A. imitaria on the 1st of July, 

 1859. They fed on groundsel, and though at last they grew to a great 

 length they were more than ten months about it. Having kept them 

 out-doors, and so out of sight, I forgot to make a description till they 

 had begun to spin, so I cannot speak as precisely as I could wish ; 



