316 BRITISH LEPIbOPTERA. 



spiracles are green. The segmental incisions are also green. From 

 the letterpress (loc. cit., p. no) one learns that the larva was found 

 in the grounds of Colchester workhouse on privet by Laver, on 

 September 6th, 1882. It was with great pleasure that we received on 

 October 22nd, 1902, two larvae closely resembling this form from Mr. 

 Head, of Scarborough, who wrote : " Most of my larvae oi S. ligustri were 

 more or less of this colour this autumn, and I believe the cold 

 weather is the cause of it. I have often had a few dark specimens 

 when the larvae have been late in feeding up." One of the larvae 

 received was already moribund, the other of a tint rather deeper dorsally 

 than that of Buckler's figure, the upper part of the oblique lines 

 pink instead of pale violet, the spiracles yellow instead of green, 

 and the sides, in front of the lower portion of the oblique lines and 

 the area below the subspiracular flange, black, the caudal horn very 

 shiny black, the anal flap also black, the prothoracic plate and head 

 blackish without the green markings shown in Buckler's figure ; there 

 is no green mark behind the caudal horn, and the prolegs and venter 

 are of a deep purple-black, except that the pale mark on the outside 

 of the prolegs is hardly distinguishable (Ent. Rec, xiv., p. 343). 

 Fitch notes (Ent., xxxiv., p. 254) that, on August 10th, 1901, a 

 fullfed larva, exactly like that figured in Buckler's Larvae, ii., pi. 

 xxii., fig. 2, was found on a potato-patch at Goldhanger, near Maldon. 

 He also mentions another larva that was more purple than green, 

 but not so dark and distinct as the one here noted. Hellins says that 

 the only minor variation that he has seen in the larvae of this species 

 has been in the size and the depth of colour of the slanting lateral 

 stripes. Before pupating, the larva loses its normal green colour, and 

 becomes a deep purplish-brown [(" sad brown " (Hellins)]. This 

 change of colour, which takes place at the time that the larva leaves 

 the green foliage of its foodplant, to crawl over the ground to find 

 a place for pupation, is most probably of protective significance. 

 Schultz notes (Illus. Zeits.fiir Ent., hi., p. 359) that he found, on August 

 19th, 1897, in the neighbourhood of Halensee, near Berlin, a larva 

 of S. ligustri without a caudal horn, a dark chitinous plate raised 

 only slightly above the surface of the body occupying the usual 

 position of the horn. The larva pupated well and produced a ? 

 imago the following May or June. Bacot writes {in litt.) that Shaw 

 exhibited, at a recent meeting of the City of London Entomological 

 Society, a larva with two caudal horns, the second being a small duplica- 

 tion of the first and arising behind it (? on the 9th abdominal segment). 

 Cocoon. — The larva goes down into the ground to a depth of 

 about two inches and there makes a dome of beaten earth, about one 

 inch high by two and a half inches long. Like the larva of Hylcs 

 cuplwrbiae, it makes no special floor in constructing its cocoon (Harri- 

 son) ; the larva goes down some distance into the soil and makes an 

 earthen cocoon in which to pupate (Hellins). The larvae appear to have 

 more need than most of fresh earth in which to pupate, and the cocoons 

 appear to be rarely lined much with silk. Sometimes the silk is 

 altogether insufficient to hold together the grains of dry earth, so 

 that it is necessary for the earth to be sufficiently damp for the 

 walls of the cavity they form to support themselves ; the larva 

 appears only to take care to beat and press well the walls of the 

 cavity where the pupa will remain (Reaumur). The larvae go into 



