524 BRITISH LEPlDOPTERA* 



are contracted the hinder blotch on each segment coalesces with the 

 front one on the next, so as to make one irregular blotch. Below this 

 row comes a subdorsal line of the ground colour, bearing nine spots 

 of deep yellow, placed on the hinder edge of the mesothorax and eight 

 following segments. On this line commences the upper end of a longi- 

 tudinal row of large oval warts, the lower ends of which intrude into 

 a series of black spots, hollowing them out into a half-moon shape. 

 On the lower edge of these black marks come the black, indistinct, 

 spiracles. Below, again, comes a row of long oval warts, with their 

 longer axes running longitudinally, and their lower sides edged with 

 black, and then another row of small warts also set in black half-moons. 

 The ventral prolegs have triangular warts on their sides. The head 

 and thoracic legs are black. The short hairs on the warts are mostly ' 

 whitish, but some are black. 



Variation of larva. — Briggs says that the larva has a great range 

 of variation ; its limit towards the confluence of the black spots is 

 complete confluency. The angles then become developed, and assume 

 the X-like appearance of the " early " trifolii, but the ground colour is 

 always more dusky. The limit the other way, towards the oblitera- 

 tion of the black spots, is seldom beyond that in the description 

 (quoted). In some thousands examined, this observer remarks that 

 he has never seen one with the spots so small, and consequently the 

 dorsal line so broad, as in the " late " trifolii, and he has never seen 

 the spots in the shape of those of A. lonicerae. 



Cocoon. — The cocoons vary in size, but are about 25 mm. in length 

 and 6 mm. in width, each tapering at either end to the diameter of the 

 object to which it is attached, somewhat spindle-shaped, with a more 

 convex curve at the apex than towards the base. It is papery and 

 gummy (rather than silken) in texture, as shown by its being brittle, 

 and by its rustling when handled, semitransparent (the blackish pupa 

 visible through it), yellowish-white in colour, the reflected light giving 

 it a shiny appearance. The silken threads run chiefly in a longitudinal 

 direction, so that, although there is no worked opening, a longitudinal 

 splitting readily takes place on emergence. The interior of the cocoon 

 is rather more silky and less papery than the exterior. The usual 

 colour is pale yellowish, and has a distinct trace, in many instances, of 

 the paler basal half that is so pronounced in some species, others, again, 

 are quite whitish in colour, whilst others are of a dark yellow tint. It 

 is attached by its full length, the silk at the back usually encircling an 

 ordinary grass culm completely, and does not go beyond the end of the 

 cocoon ; on a thicker stem this foundation may only extend half-way 

 round, and on a flat surface a thin superficial layer alone is woven for 

 the attachment of the cocoon proper. After the exit of the imago the 

 empty pupa-case remains protruding from the ruptured end of the 

 cocoon. Harrison notes that there is no loose silk in the cocoon, the 

 whole being varnished until it has assumed the characteristic papery 

 texture ; his measurements of examples, taken in the Cher-et-Loir, 

 exceed ours slightly, being 28 mm. long and 8 mm. wide. The cocoons 

 are spun in a variety of situations — grass-culms, leaves of thistles, stiff 

 stems of herbaceous plants, etc. Arkle notes them as being somewhat 

 gregarious on stones at Tan-y-Bwlch, sometimes a dozen together ; one 

 often sees two or more on a single grass-culm. 



Pupa. — J. Length about 16 mm., breadth at 4th abdominal 



