350 BRITISH LEPIDOPTERA. 



borders extended from the 4th, 5th and 6th spots, but the stripes 

 themselves could not be seen. The homology between these spots 

 and those described upon many Smerinthid larvae is obvious, and, 

 hence, the fact that the brown borders are certainly connected 

 with the spots, becomes of great importance. There will be far 

 more evidence of this in the next stage. The faintest trace of 

 brown spots could now be seen upon another larva of the same 

 division, but they were so slight that their presence would not 

 have been noticed except for the clue afforded by the former larva. 

 The 7th spot was only represented by a darkening of the green 

 ground colour. The seven dark larvae were also carefully examined, 

 and traces of one or two brown spots were, perhaps, present upon 

 two of them, but I could not feel sure of this, the upper part 

 of the 7th stripe, probably upon all of them. On September 

 23rd, the seven dark larvae were again minutely examined, and 

 it was noticed that the upward-extending part of the subdorsal 

 line — in mature larvae which had not yet entered the resting-stage 

 before ecdysis — was distinctly divided into oblique white stripes, 

 of which each pair tended to meet and form a V, with the 

 backward directed apex interrupted by the dorsal line, due to the 

 underlying dorsal vessel. In some larvae, five distinct, oblique, 

 white stripes could also be made out below the subdorsal, and 

 two more very faint ones in the most strongly marked individuals. 

 The continuity between the upper and lower sections of an oblique 

 line, above and below the subdorsal, was obvious in two or three 

 of the segments. Very slight traces of brown spots — often a mere 

 darkening of the ground colour, with sometimes the faintest brownish 

 tinge — could now be made out on most of these larvae. Each spot 

 was always placed just below the lower edge of the subdorsal, in 

 such a position as to form the upper part of a dark border to 

 the oblique white stripe, whether the stripe itself was present or 

 not. The ten light larvae were also examined at the same time. 

 The brown-spotted larva was now in the resting-period. The dark 

 pigment upon it had not undergone any further change since the 

 last description of the larva on September 22nd. There were now 

 distinct traces of brown borders extending from the three posterior spots, 

 and very slight traces extending from the four others. No stripes could 

 be seen except the upper part of the last, which was distinct. This 

 larva, in which the spots and associated borders were developed to 

 a far greater extent than in any of the others, was now removed to a 

 separate cylinder, in order to test its relation to the other larvae in the 

 next stage. This larva is represented in outline on pi., xv., fig. 8 (x 

 5 -8). The shagreen-tubercles are omitted, except in profile; all 

 the dark marks represent pigment. The dark mark between the 

 2nd and 3rd thoracic segments probably belongs to the next stage, 

 and is seen through the transparent cuticle. The oblique white 

 lines above the subdorsal were less distinct in these light larvae, 

 but they could be made out by comparison with the more decided 

 appearances in the other set. They were best seen by looking at 

 the larvae with the naked eye and from a little distance. The 

 mature larvae (in this stadium) were about 14mm. in length when 

 moderately expanded, but the largest could stretch to 15mm. or 

 even 16mm. During the resting-period the length was very 



