THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



^0. 83.] OCTOBER, MDCCCLXX. [Peice 6d. 



Description of the Larva of Lythria purpuraria. — Rests 

 with the claspers firmly attached to a stem of the food-plant, 

 the 11th, 12th and 13th segments lying parallel thereto, but 

 the other segments as far as the 10th being porrected in 

 a perfectly straight and stick-like position at an angle of 40*^ 

 with the stem : the legs are appressed to the ventral surface, 

 and are directed forwards : when breathed on or annoyed it 

 tucks in the head, and bends the anterior part of the body 

 into an imperfect circle. The head is of the same width as 

 the 2nd segment, and is porrected on the same plane as the 

 body ; the face is flat, and the antennal papillae are unusually 

 long and conspicuous ; every part of the head emits short 

 scattered hairs: the body is long and slender; it tapers 

 slightly towards the head, and is gradually thickened towards 

 the caudal extremity ; each segment is also slightly restricted 

 at the anterior extremity ; there is a slight lateral skinfold, 

 and all parts of the body, more particularly the extremities, 

 emit scattered hairs. The colour is so various as to defy my 

 powers of description ; all are striped longitudinally, but the 

 colour in no two is precisely alike ; all the stripes of the 

 body originate in the head, where they may be thus described : 

 the median area is dusky, longitudinally intersected by a 

 narrow paler stripe ; it is also bounded on each side by 

 a pale, almost white, stripe, and this by a much darker 

 stripe; below this darker stripe, and adjoining the mouth, 

 the colour is very pale ; the striping of the body, as I have 

 said, is continuous with that of the head ; the prevailing 

 colour of the dorsal surface is bottle-green or rosy brown, 

 and of the ventral surface pale glaucous green, the division 

 of the respective surfaces being very clearly defined ; the 

 dorsal region is always interrupted by a triple medio-dorsal 

 stripe, of which the median portion is the lightest : the 

 ventral surface has three or five stripes just indicated, still 

 paler than the general surface, and indeed almost white : the 



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