470 BRITISH LEPIDOPTERA. 



in a perfectly straight position on the trunk of a tree, or on a branch, 

 and is especially fond of the sun. Near Perth the larva lies flat on 

 the thick branches of oak, and is not easily beaten in the daytime 

 (Wylie). The larva is found in Bishop's Wood at rest on trunks of 

 black poplar near the ground, and may be also beaten from oak (Ash), 

 at Croydon the larvae are beaten from lime (Sheldon), in Scotland the 

 larvae are almost confined to the higher branches of tall oak trees 

 resting flat against the bark (Eeid), the larvae are found in crevices of 

 the bark of oak trunks, the general colour of which, the tints of the 

 larva match admirably (Merrin). Bankes notes that the larva 

 generally rests clinging closely along the dark bark of the branches 

 and is thereby rendered very inconspicuous ; its hold is very tenacious 

 and owing to this habit it probably often escapes the beating-tray. 



Larva. — In the first stadium (hatched April 20th, 1899), the head 

 is black, shiny, not large, Avith a few scattered white hairs, and a 

 yellow transverse band just above the mouth. The body black, with 

 partial subdorsal row of deep yellow or orange spots or blotches ; on the 

 2nd and 3rd thoracic segments these are large and bright, not present 

 on 1st abdominal, large and bright on the 2nd, faint on the 3rd-6th, 

 bright and large on the 7th, and small on the 8th ; they are placed at 

 junction of segments, and are really on two segments, the so-called 

 spot of the 2nd abdominal being partly on the posterior margin of the 

 2nd and partly on the anterior margin of the 3rd abdominal, and so on. 

 [These spots seem to be an ancestral feature and perhaps give a clue to 

 the origin of the yellow intersegmental bands of M. rubi.] The body 

 is of even width, rather thin in dorso-ventral section, mounted well up 

 from crawling surface, legs and prolegs widely spread, the latter 

 square-ended and not yet j_-shaped ; segmental incisions fairly dis- 

 tinct, especially noticeable when crawling ; thoracic segments longer 

 than abdominal ; scutellum large, distinct, chitinous, but thin and fragile 

 in appearance ; the hairs are of two kinds — (1) long, large, black, some 

 of the lateral hairs quite one-third of larva in length, (2) small white 

 hairs ; both kinds appear to be minutely serrated, a feature more con- 

 spicuous in the white than in the dark hairs. On the meso- and meta- 

 thorax, tubercles i form large many-haired warts, whilst ii appear 

 smaller but are overshadowed by the crowded hairs around them ; on 

 the abdominal segments, i and ii are both many-haired warts, ii being 

 larger than i (thus different from all other Lachneid larvae examined) ; 

 the lateral tubercle (iv + v) on prothorax very large ; also large and 

 coalesced on meso- and metathorax ; on the abdominal segments iii is 

 small and two- or three-haired only, iv and v both subspiracular, rather 

 close together, the posterior the larger ; the subspiracular tubercles iv 

 and v are on the as yet ill-developed lateral ridge. The skin is wrinkled, 

 but subsegments not clear, nor does the newly -hatched larva show any 

 trace of the specialisation it undergoes later. When fullgrown in first 

 stadium the body has already flattened, the venter is but little raised 

 above the resting-surface, whilst the subspiracular lateral ridge is becom- 

 ing prominent, and the hairs from iv, v, and vii all sweep downwards to 

 resting-place. In the second stadium (May 8th) the body is more flat- 

 tened and carried close to twig when crawling ; ventral area flattened, 

 pale in colour; dorsal tubercles flatter, more distributed, and less 

 sharply defined ; numerous secondary hairs present ; 8th abdominal 

 segment slightly above level of other segments. Head rounded, not 



