PACHYGASTRIA TRIFOLII. 21 



slightly flattened at ends, depressed at micropyle (some slight varia- 

 tion in shape of individual eggs) ; the surface smooth, dull compared 

 with the varnished appearance of the egg of L. que 'reus ; colour, 

 wainscot, mottled with umber-brown, the surface speckled regularly 

 with black points ; the micropylar depression deep umber-brown, at 

 bottom of the depression a sculptured rosette of cells, the sculpturing 

 neither deep nor clearly marked. In bulk the eggs are about one-third 

 those of English L. quereiis ; whilst in general appearance (both shape 

 and colour) they are much nearer to the French races of L. quereus — 

 meridionalis and viburni — than to the English races." [Described 

 August 19th, from eggs laid August 5th, 1897, and received from 

 Mr. Day]. 



Habits of larva. — It is generally reputed on the Continent that 

 this species leaves the egg in autumn and hybernates as a young larva, 

 e.g., Sepp says that eggs in his possession hatched before the winter, 

 namely, at the end of August and in September, and fed as long as food 

 was obtainable. Milliere says that the species hybernates in the larval 

 stage in the Alpes-Maritimes, but very small, and that the larvre do not 

 mature till April and May ; and Chapman notes Godart, Boisduval, 

 Dubois, &c, as stating that the eggs hatch in autumn. Riihl asserts (Soe. 

 Ent., viii., p. 44) that it is not normal for the species to hybernate as 

 larvae at Zurich; that in 1880, 1882, and 1884 he possessed hybernated 

 eggs from which, in April, healthy larvae emerged, although, at the 

 same time, larvae existed in great numbers in October on the 

 Greifensee, and from eggs which ? s laid in captivity in September 

 larvae emerged in October. He adds: "The autumnal larvae invariably 

 perish in winter." Prittwitz asserts that it passes the winter as a larva in 

 Silesia, where it is common in the Oder meadows, and Selys says that, 

 in Belgium, the larva hybernates, being found in May on broom and 

 trefoil, the imagines very rare in July and the commencement of August. 

 Whether this habit be correctly observed or not for the continent, it is 

 quite certain that in Britain the larva does not normally leave the egg 

 until early spring, although Wailly, as we have noted, says that the 

 larva is fully developed within the egg for some months previous to its 

 emergence in February. The larvae from the same batch of eggs do 

 not hatch simultaneously ; Edelsten notes a batch, the hatching period 

 of which extended from January 20th — February 26th, 1898, and some 

 we had continued to emerge for some days after January 30th, when 

 the first appeared. Harker observes that on the Lancashire coast 

 also the larvae hatch in the spring. The erroneous idea that the eggs 

 normally hatched in autumn in Britain appears to have originated with 

 Barrett {Substitute, pp. 40-41), but Reading at once pointed out that the 

 eggs in his possession did not hatch until March, and that the egg stage 

 lasted six months ; in spite of this Newman repeated most circum- 

 stantially the autumnal hatching of eggs, and stated that the larvae 

 hybernate near the surface of the earth (JEntom., ii., p. 291). Lewin 

 gives one of the earliest notes as to the occurrence of this species in 

 Britain, and writes (Trans. Linn. Soe. Lond., hi., p. 3 (1797) : "The 

 larva feeds on trefoil, pupates in June, the imago coming forth the 

 latter end of August. The larvae are to be met on the uncultivated 

 grassy chalk-hills of Kent, particularly near Darenth Wood ; they 

 secrete themselves under stones in the day, and come forth to feed in 

 the evening." Dell states that the young, bright, yellow larvae are 



