436 BEITISH LEPIDOPTERA. 



placed singly and irregularly. The eggs of Eutricha quercifolia are laid 

 in small groups on twigs (often placed more or less on each other). 

 Those of Macrothylacia rubi may be attached to almost anything in the 

 near neighbourhood of their food, and there is a batch in the 

 British Museum coll. placed round and round a twig, almost as 

 in Malacosoma, but irregularly, loosely, and without any cementing 

 material, whilst those of Pachyr/astria trifolii and Cosmotriche pota- 

 toria are slightly attached to stems of grass or other plants. The 

 female Lasiocampa querciis is reported to sprinkle her eggs loosely 

 when on flight, but one may be inclined to doubt whether this state- 

 ment is always correct. We know, of course, that like the female 

 of 0. Rotatoria, she will lay her eggs freely in one's hand whilst 

 being held, but the eggs of the latter are sticky and adhere to each 

 other, whilst, on the other hand, those of L. querciis are not, yet the 

 female of the var. callunae is recorded as having been observed attach- 

 ing her eggs to heather twigs, and we once had eggs that appeared to 

 belong to this species sent to us that were firmly attached to a stone. 

 Bacot observes that he has never known the eggs of the typical form 

 or of the various continental races that he has bred to be attached to 

 anything, the moth dropping her eggs as soon as fertilised, although 

 possibly they have been retained for several days previous to copulation. 

 If kept for any length of time, however, females of this species will lay 

 infertile eggs, but when once pairing has taken place egglaying com- 

 mences immediately, in from ten to twenty minutes. 



The Lachneid larvae are exceedingly beautiful, often densely hairy, 

 usually with the primary tubercular warts flattened and spread out, 

 and much obscured by the secondary hairs, which, in some genera, 

 form a thick coating spread over the whole skin. In other genera, 

 however, the lateral hairs are those particularly developed, and then in 

 directions that tend to make the larva? inconspicuous when resting 

 outstretched upon a twig. This is particularly noticeable in the 

 Eutrichidae, Trichiura, &c. Even the apparently conspicuous larva of 

 L. querciis can scarcely be observed when so extended, in spite of the 

 striking intersegmental and lateral tints which are so conspicuous when 

 it is crawling. 



With regard to the structure of the Lachneid larva?, Dyar states 

 that " the primitive first stage has disappeared ; the mature warts are 

 greatly reduced and obscured by secondary hairs ; tubercles iv and v 

 appear to have dropped back into line in the first larval stage." We 

 are not quite clear as to this quotation. It is true that the primitive 

 first stage has largely (or wholly) disappeared, and we suspect has been 

 thrust back into the stages passed within the egg before hatching ; it 

 is also true that the mature warts are much spread, often (especially i 

 and v) reduced, and obscured in certain genera by secondary hairs, but 

 we are not quite clear as to what is meant by iv and v " appear to have 

 dropped back into line " in the first larval stage. On many grounds 

 the Lachneids must be looked upon as a moderately generalised super- 

 family, although from a larval point of view they form a highly 

 specialised one, with, however, considerable differences as to 

 the degree of specialisation, inter se, and if by " dropping 

 back" Dyar means to suggest a degeneracy from a more special- 

 ised form previously reached, we should demur, as we consider 

 the position of these tubercles to be simply an illustration of an other- 



