MALAC0S0MA NEUSTEIA. 555 



generally prefer to form a web in common until they have undergone 

 the last ecdysis. When living solitarily they spread themselves over a 

 considerable area. According to Eatzeburg they feed both by day and 

 by night, but Schroder has observed that they do so chiefly in the 

 cooler hours of the morning and particularly in the evening, the latter 

 appearing to be the chief time chosen for feeding. Stephens says that 

 in changeable weather all the individuals which are resting on the out- 

 side of the nest simultaneously and repeatedly elevate the anterior part 

 of their bodies, as the larva? of Hi/lobius pint are said to do. Harrison 

 has noticed that in the early morning as the sun reaches them they 

 jerk their heads and thoracic segments violently from side to side, and 

 this they keep up for some time. In fine weather when shelter is 

 unnecessary the larva? rest on the bark of a branch, crowding together 

 in scores or hundreds, and covering a large space, and Barrett says 

 that if necessary they leave the original habitation and construct 

 another and others successively, so as to have plenty of food at hand. 

 Schmidberger once saw larva? busily engaged in repairing and enlarging 

 a "gold-tail" web, which they occupied together with the "gold- 

 tails," feeding with them and accepting them as members of the same 

 family. Newman observes that when about to change their skins the 

 larva? fix themselves on the outside of the tent, where they undergo 

 the process of moulting, the old skins adhering to the roof of their 

 dwelling ; he has noticed more than fifty of the cast-off skins decorating 

 the exterior of a single tent. Dollman says that the larva? whilst gre- 

 garious prefer to sit on the web, that they are very shy, and that if the 

 twig be touched will fall to the ground ; when on the move they are very 

 active, and Mrs. Cowl notes that the larva? bask in rows in the sunshine 

 on the webs, which she observed were placed at the top of a roadside 

 hedge near Brockenhurst. There appears to be considerable diversity, as 

 we have already pointed out as to the habit of remaining in the web. 

 Thus we observe : The young larva? remain in the web till the 

 second instar (Lane) ; larva? found at Binstead left the web when half- 

 grown and lived solitarily (Moberly) ; the larva? when young rest 

 within the web when not feeding, but separate after moulting for the 

 last time (Fenn). Newman observes that when the larva is full-fed it 

 rests in a straight position, but falls off its food-plant if slightly 

 shaken ; it does not roll in a ring nor feign death, but immediately 

 crawls towards the trunk of the tree whence it has fallen and begins to 

 reascend. The larva? sometimes occur in incredible numbers, and 

 Graeser notes them as being in " indescribable abundance " in 1885, at 

 "Wladiwostock, all the oaks being stripped by them. Walker states 

 that he has often seen the oaks almost defoliated by the larva? of this 

 species at Algeciras, near Gibraltar. Schroder observes that in Ger- 

 many in some seasons they eat whole orchards bare, and for the three 

 years preceding 1897 the trees in the grounds in the neighbourhood of 

 Neumunster were so completely stripped that not only was the crop 

 destroyed but the trees themselves in many cases had died. Jenyns notes 

 the larva? as being the pest of the hedges in Cambridgeshire, swarming 

 in some seasons so that the foliage has been stripped from them and 

 the bushes laid as completely bare as in the depth of winter. Stephens 

 observes that fruit trees are sometimes quite defoliated by them in the 

 south-eastern counties. Daws notes the larva? as being sometimes 

 destructive to the foliage of apple trees in the Penzance district. 



