408 BRITISH LEPIDOPTERA. 



Egglaying. — The eggs appear to be normally fastened to the 

 underside of the leaves of the foodplant, either singly or in pairs 

 (Bacot) ; eggs laid on lime leaf at Chiswick fastened by a tenacious 

 gum (Sich) ; discovered a 2 ovipositing on the trunk of a small 

 lime tree, on May 26th, 1895, at Crouch End (James); 5 laid 39 eggs 

 on a stone step quite five yards from a lime tree at Sydenham (Swain). 



Ovum. — Oval in form, plump, with shining- pale green shell, 

 about 175mm. in length and i^mm. in width (Hellins) ; of the 

 same shape and size as that of S. ocellata, but of a darker and 

 duller green (Bacot). [See description by Chapman, anted, p. 386.] 

 Graber has described and figured (Denks. Ak. Wien, lv., pp. 148 — 

 149, pi. vi., figs. 39 — 41) embryological details from the ova of 

 this species. Brown notes (Ent., v., p. 395) parthenogenesis as 

 having occurred in this species, but gives no data. 



Habits of larva. — The larvae appear usually to feed high up 

 in large elm-trees in Kent, and hence are rarely observed until 

 they come down for the purpose of pupation, and therefore one 

 knows but little of their habits in nature. Bacot observes that in 

 their earlier stages the larvae usually rest on one of the veins on 

 the underside of a leaf, but, in the later stages, choose a twig or 

 leafstalk for the purpose ; they seem to dislike the light, and, when 

 their food is changed, get underneath the leaves as soon as possible. 

 In confinement they do well on fresh young shoots of lime until 

 the 3rd moult; they then want less succulent food, and feed best 

 on the smaller dark green fleshy leaves from the upper branches 

 of the tree. It is stated (Ent. Wk. Int., vii., p. 109) that larvae 

 obtained from moths that emerged from pupae dug at elms, feed up 

 twice as fast on lime as on elm. The following notes show that the 

 larvae are obtainable in Britain from Tune to September, dependent 

 on the season, possibly, often, from late May to September, as the 

 egg-stage rarely lasts more than 14 days, and the imagines are fre- 

 quently observed in early May. Thus we have : August and Sep- 

 tember at Bristol (Prideaux); at Tunbridge Wells in September 

 (Nicholson) ; August 24th, 1856, at Notting Hill, July 17th, 1895 

 (A. H. Clarke); larvae at Ramsgate, August 30th, 1856 (Powell); 

 September 22nd, 1858, and 1st week of September, 1875, at 

 Emsworth (Hellins) ; September 10th, 1870, at Greywell, September 

 1st, 1879, at Caversham, September 16th, 1880, at Henley, Septem- 

 ber 5th, 1884, at Tilehurst, August 30th, 1888, at Hartley Row, 

 September 12th, 1891, at Reading (Holland); August 15th, 1871, Sep- 

 tember 4th, 1872, August 10th, 1873, September 16th, 1879, September 

 3rd, 1883 fullfed, September 29th, 1892, fullfed on lime, September 

 2nd, 1898, at Lee (Bower); September 5th, 1871, at Wanstead, 

 July 19th, 1887, at Brentwood (Burrows) ; August 24th — September 

 24th, 1875, September 14th, 1885, fullfed at Lee, ova laid June 

 14th, 1895, hatched June 24th, larvae fullfed July 20th (Fenn), full- 

 fed September 16th, 1883, August 13th, 1892, at Bristol (Bartlett) ; 

 August 21st — 29th, 1890, August 8th, 1898, fullfed at Chiswick 

 (Sich); August, 1891, on elm at Bedford (Steuart); September 

 13th, 1891, August 24th, 1892, August 6th, 1893, September 1st, 

 1898, at Oxton (Studd) ; eggs laid May 27th, 1892, hatched in a 

 week, the first fullfed larva went down July 18th, the rest followed 

 at intervals for three weeks longer, at Hartley Wintney (Claxton) ; 



