62 BRITISH LEP1D0PTERA. 



bare velvety-black intersegmental bands, there are, on each segment, four subdorsal 

 black spots, caused by a tuft of the short fur being turned down at a sharp angle 

 over lateral area (this character very slightly marked in 3rd instar) ; all long body 

 hairs now pure white, with only a few black of medium length ; an interrupted narrow 

 white subdorsal line present, also remnants of the yellow oblique lines; lateral area 

 dull blue, slightly tinged with green and mottled with black ; the lateral tubercles 

 still clearly developed, especially on thoracic segments ; the subdorsal spots on 

 meso- and metathorax now very plainly marked, consisting of a golden-brown 

 double convex spot with a sharply contrasted white tip (one suspects these to be 

 remnants of a double ocellar marking that suggests a possible protective mark of 

 warning or startling significance in the past history of L. quercus and C. potatoria, 

 as do similar markings now for the larvae of Eumorpha elpenor and Aglia tau). 

 Altogether the larva of viburni when it has just entered the fourth stadium 

 is not unlike that of Pachygastna trifolii, though one misses the blue bands of 

 the latter species (December 20th, 1896). As the larvae get larger in the fourth 

 stadium they appear to grow darker, passing from a golden-brown to a deep red- 

 brown, due, it appears, to a change in the tint of the short dorsal fur, the long 

 hairs and ground colour remain the same ; larva 50mm. in length at end of 

 4th instar (January 3rd, 1897). Fifth instar (One larva moulted into this skin 

 January 17th) : No great changes occur at this moult. The dorsal fur is distinctly 

 lighter after the moult, so that the hairs possibly do deepen in tint as the larva 

 gets older; the red and white "ocellar" markings on thoracic segments weaker; 

 the white of the interrupted subdorsal line stronger, and spread out at- junction of 

 metathorax and 1st abdominal segment. Some details in the observations made on 

 the full grown larvae have led me to suppose that some at least may reach a 6th 

 instar, but I suspect this is not really so, and that the great difference in size 

 and the laggard habit of the larger larvae really mean that the female larvae 

 undergo each ecdysis later than the male larvae, becoming much larger (and taking 

 more time to become larger) before they are ready for pupation (January 17th, 

 1897). These larvae were finally fullfed by January 30th and the few days follow- 

 ing (Bacot). Cocoon: e? , 28mm. long, 14mm. wide; ?, 34-511111-1. long. 

 I4*5nim. wide, forming a compact cylinder of closely-felted, pale, ochreous-brown 

 silk. Pupa : More squat, shorter and comparatively broader than that of var. 

 meridionalis ; some difference in the curve of the antennae, resulting from the 

 difference in shape (Bacot). Foodplants : Rubus, Viburnus ienus (Guenee), 

 Erica arborea, Scoparium, Arbutus, Cytisus hirsutus, &c. (Milliere). Distribu- 

 tion: France: Auvergne (Sand), Cannes, Hyeres (Berce), Haute- Garonne— Pibrac, 

 Luchon (Caradja), Var (Cantener), Provence (Guenee). Italy : (Curo), [Sicily 

 (Mina-Palumbo)]. Spain: Pyrenees (Agassiz). 



This form, in spite of its southern habitat, appears on the wing late 

 in the year (see Constant, Ent. Record, xiii., p. 257). Milliere says 

 ""July, August, and sometimes in September, the var. viburni much 

 more frequent than the type (var. meridionalis) in the Alpes-Maritimes, 

 &c, most characteristic and constant, and probably specifically 

 distinct." Bruand notes its capture as late as October in Provence 

 in 1866. Guenee says {Ann. Soc. Ent. France, 1858, p. 441) 

 that " viburni differs from quercus in that the forewings of the males 

 are squarer, i.e., the terminal edge is straighten The ground colour is 

 dark violet-brown to the transverse angulated bar, which is narrow, 

 almost straight, sharply-edged on both sides ; on the hindwings it 

 is still more contracted, and nearer the outer margin than in quercus 

 and callunae ; it is also regularly arched, but not sinuate ; more often 

 all the terminal space is yellow.* The $ is very near quercus var. b, 

 but the elbowed line is, as in the 3 , regularly arched and very 

 much nearer the outer margin. [He adds : " It is found in Sicily 

 where Dahl f has taken it abundantly, but we also get it in southern 

 France. The larva differs notably from that of L. quercus, the 



* Certainly here Guenee refers either to var. sicula or ab. guilUmotii. 



f There is no evidence whatever, we believe, that Dahl took either var. viburni 

 or ab. spartii ill Sicily ; he brought [Uite Treitschke) var. sicula from Sicily and 

 died almost directly after he returned to Germany (see, posted.). 



