GASTROPACHA ILICIFOLIA. 191 



trapezoidal outline ; colour, dull bluish-grey, dead velvety-looking 

 surface, with thickly-scattered, rather fine, jplack and pale brown 

 hairs covering it ; clypeal triangle orange and black ; mouth-parts 

 pale red-brown and black ; antenna (rather shrunken) with the 

 base pale brown ; ocelli large, black, five in semicircle ( ? another 

 near base of antenna). Body : The thoracic rather smaller than 

 the abdominal segments, of which the 4th and 5th are largest ; 

 subdivisions of segments distinct, the abdominal segments sub- 

 divided into 5 subsegments. The skin dull bluish-grey, mottled 

 with velvety-black and some orange-red ; on the dorsal area, the 

 latter (mixed with some white) forms two irregular and diffused 

 subdorsal longitudinal bands ; these are wider at the junction of 

 the segments, and it is here that the white mottlings are chiefly in 

 evidence ; some rather obscure transverse bands of the red mottlings 

 may be discerned near the middle of the abdominal segments, crossing 

 the dorsal area * laterally the red mottling again becomes prominent, 

 forming the predominant ground colour at, and below, the spiracles. 

 The spiracles are brown-grey, with a black rim of rather large size. 

 True legs black. Prolegs velvety-black, with some orange -red on 

 anterior and posterior sides. The ventral area velvety-black, with bright 

 yellow intersegmental bands at the junction of the meso- and meta- 

 thorax, of the metathorax and 1st abdominal, of the 1st and 2nd ab- 

 dominals, and so on as far as the incision between the 6th and 7 th abdom- 

 inals, so that, altogether, there are 8 intersegmental yellow bands on 

 the ventral area; there is also a pale (doubtfully-coloured) spot centrally 

 on the anterior of the ventral area of abdominal segments 2 to 7, 

 and two smaller ones on the posterior edge of abdominal segments 

 1 — 3 and 8. The ventral and lateral areas are distinctly separated 

 by the long loose hair-tufts arising from the situations of the marginal 

 tubercles vii, and also by dense tufts of short, silky, brilliant, white 

 hairs at the posterior and anterior edges of each segment from the 

 meso-metathoracic incision to that between the 7th and 8th abdominal 

 segments ; viewed ventrally these white tufts and yellow inter- 

 segmental bands cut up the ventral area into a chain of large 

 black patches, bordered by white at the sides, and yellow in front 

 and behind. [Probably this coloration has a " startling " protective 

 value to the larva when dislodged from its resting-place, as in all 

 probability, under these circumstances, it wriggles vigorously, as do 

 its relatives and other twig-resting larvae, such as those of the 

 Catocalas, etc.] The ventral area is thickly covered with very 

 small scattered black hairs, too small and fine to be clearly 

 distinguished, unless a lens be used. The lateral hair-tufts are 

 very strong and long, and rise from raised skin areas (tubercular 

 bases), but these (the skin areas) do not form processes as in the 

 larva of Eutricha quercifolia. The region of the anterior trapezoidals 

 on the 8th abdominal segment is somewhat raised into a low circular 

 mound, rendered more conspicuous by its dark colour. The dorsal 

 areas of the meso- and metathoracic segments each bears a brilliant, 

 scarlet, oblong, transversely-set spot, and the deep cutting of the sub- 

 segment where this spot occurs suggests that the larva, when living, is 

 able to diminish or increase its area, if not to completely hide it, 

 at will. On either side of each scarlet spot is a deep, blue-black 

 velvety-looking dash ; behind it at either end is a wedge-shaped 



