ADOPJEA FLAVA. 109 



which is globular and projecting, larger than the prothorax, which is 

 remarkably small and short ; the last four or five segments also taper 

 gradually when seen from above, and when viewed sideways the back 

 appears slightly arched, and sloping gradually to the anal flap, which 

 is a trifle flattened and rounded off behind ; the belly is flat and the 

 legs are all well beneath it and rather short ; the segmental divisions 

 are very delicately defined, also most particularly the subdividing 

 transverse wrinkles, which by no means arrest attention, but have to 

 be diligently sought. Head of a rather deeper green than the body, 

 rough with minute points, the upper lip of a pinkish hue, is smoother 

 and deeply channelled, the ocelli black ; the body above is of a tender 

 and delicate light green ground colour, without any gloss, and, on the 

 thoracic segments, the skin is besprinkled with black points of extreme 

 fineness, so that they do not affect the delicate colouring of the green 

 ground ; the dorsal stripe is of darker green, rather bluish, very 

 narrow on the prothorax and thence uniformly wider until becoming- 

 very gradually thinned off on the anal flap ; through the middle of the 

 stripe runs a stoutish line of paler green, and it is bordered outside by 

 a stout line of green still paler than the ground colour ; the subdorsal 

 line is of the same pale green, but thinner ; at a little distance below, 

 the trachea shows through the skin, and on it can be discerned the 

 rather prominent reddish flesh-coloured spiracles; below these again, 

 at a little distance, follows an inflated paler stripe of almost creamy- 

 whitish, extending round the anal flap, which often hides the belly 

 and legs from view when the larva is in repose, but, at other times, 

 when examined beneath, these are seen to be wholly green, excepting 

 a transverse patch of white on the front of the ventral surface of the 

 7th and 8th abdominal segments (Buckler). Naked, narrower at each 

 end, the head larger than the neck, of a very green colour with darker 

 green dorsal lines, laterally a whitish-yellow line and just above prolegs 

 a broader yellow line (Scriba teste Borkhausen). Very pale-green in 

 tint, with white longitudinal dorsal and lateral lines ; a blunt anal 

 point into which the lateral subspiracular lines gradually fade 

 posteriorly (Freyer). Buckler figures [Larvae, etc., i., pi. xvii., figs. 

 3- 86) the larva of this species. 



Variation of laeva. — All the important textbooks refer to Esper's 

 descriptions and figures of four Urbicolid larva? (Ear. Schmett., i., 

 contin. p. 25, pi. 98 (supp. 12), figs. 5-8) as varieties of this species. 

 The figures are very badly executed, and are more than doubtful as to 

 their species (especially as he says they feed on clover as well as grass). 

 He states that the larvae agree in form with those of Pararge eyeria, 

 and are, in their younger stages, difficult to separate therefrom. The 

 dorsum, however, is more rounded, and so are the front segments, but 

 the hindmost segments are narrowed to a wedge, and there are fewer 

 lateral stripes. The head is almost globular and is outstretched from 

 the narrow thoracic segments. [Above the anal claspers are two 

 elongated points which are united and fit exactly together.*] The 

 surface is rough, covered with fine white warts. The ground colour 



* One suspects that this cannot belong to an Urbicolid larva, and that Esper 

 was trusting to memory and got mixed. He says that he reared imagines from 

 the three forms of larvae described, which seems to settle the fact that he had larvae 

 of this species (flava), which, indeed, the presence of the white ventral spots 

 suggests. 



