282 BRITISH LEPIDOPTERA. 



that the larva lives from June to October on conifers, to which 

 it is often very injurious, it is usually found on the pine {Pinus 

 sylvestris\ the black pine {P. laricis), P. pinaster, P. strobus, and more 

 rarely on Abies alba, Picea excelsa and Larix decidua. Larvae are 

 sometimes found right on into November, and, at Wiesbaden, have 

 even been found in December ; such late larvae must certainly spring, 

 one suspects, from moths which did not emerge until late in the year, 

 although possibly not belonging to a second generation. Ratzeburg 

 says that, although Bechstein reckons the species among those more 

 than usually injurious to forests, yet no recent observations have 

 confirmed the statement, although it is probable that it sometimes 

 deserves the epithet, for, in some years, and always in common 

 with the larvae of Dendrolimus pint, it is very abundant locally, 

 e.g., in the Annaburg preserve in the years 1837 and 1838, when 

 both species were in exceptional numbers. Chaumette says that, 

 in Switzerland, the larva is found in August and September on Abies 

 excelsa and Pinus sylvestris. Larvae are to be found in the Linz 

 district from July to September some were taken at Pfeningberg on 

 September 14th, 1896 (Himsl), chiefly in August and September 

 in the Netherlands (Snellen), captured from August 8th-September 

 17th, in the Auvergne district (Sand). 



Larva. — First instar : Short, stout and active, body cylindrical 

 with a well-marked lateral flange for so young a larva. Head 

 and thoracic segments large ; caudal horn very stout and fleshy- 

 looking, with a very marked fork at the top, this fork is strongly- 

 developed and the prongs much thicker and heavier than in any 

 other Sphingid larva that I have examined ; the horn and its 

 bifurcations have a curious worm-like appearance owing to their 

 smooth surface and slight irregularities of thickness and direction ; 

 the surface of the horn shiny, chitinous-looking, somewhat irregularly 

 granulated, but devoid of spicules or hairs except the setae arising from 

 tubercles i at apex of fork. The colour of the body dirty-yellowish ; 

 scutellar plate not very noticeable ; true legs black ; prolegs with black 

 chitinous plate on outer sides ; subsegments poorly marked, the 

 abdominal segments subdivided into 8 subsegments ; setae fine, but 

 long compared with those of Celerio gallii and Theretra porcellus, 

 fairly stiff and tapering to a point, and rising from conical, somewhat 

 inconspicuous chitinous brown tubercular bases; on the abdominal seg- 

 ments, the setae i and ii are arranged trapezoidally, nearly as if 

 at the four corners of a square and apparently with only one 

 subsegment between ; on the meso- and metathorax i and ii are 

 on the same subsegment, and the same chitinous plate appears 

 to carry both setae, although their bases are slightly apart, i appears 

 to be placed outside, ii just within ; iii is a slightly larger seta, 

 placed vertically above the spiracle ; on the meso- and metathorax 

 this is a two-haired tubercle, each seta with its own separate base 

 on a common plate, the setae placed one above the other, and 

 both rather higher than is iii on the abdominal segments ; iv 

 and v are situated on a lateral flange, iv almost directly beneath 

 the spiracle, and v far forward on the anterior margin of the 

 segment, and almost on a level with the spiracle ; on the meso- 

 and metathorax only one seta is present on the lateral flange, this 

 is situated just in front of the centre of the segment and would appear 



