URBICOLA COMMA. 171 



the young caterpillars hatched .... my microscope was inaccessible, and the only 

 observations 1 could make then were made with a Codington lens. The shape 

 of the young larvae was sack-shaped, somewhat like the grubs of the Scarabasids, 

 but not having the anal segments curved under the body. From the very 

 beginning, when the young larvas were placed upon a tuft of growing grass, 

 they worked their way down to the bases of the leaves and kept out of sight. 

 About four days after they hatched I lost sight of them, and it was not until 

 August 4th that I found them again. They had evidently moulted, for, instead of 

 a yellowish- white, they had now assumed a delicate glaucous tint, i.e., an opaque 

 white, with a faint bluish-green shade on the surface. The head and spiracles, as 

 well as the thoracic shield and first pair of thoracic feet, were black as at first, 

 making a continuous collar from the tip of one foot to the other. Down the centre 

 of the back there was a green line from the dorsal vessel, showing through the 

 skin. At this time they were transferred to a smaller tuft of grass consisting of 

 small roots of Agrostis vulgaris and Car ex varia. They seemed to eat either of 

 these indiscriminately, and eating their way down into the heart of a shoot, would 

 nibble the edges of the leaves all round them. Leaving home to attend the 

 meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, no note was 

 taken of the date of the next moult. Indeed, I supposed that these, like some others, 

 had died during my absence. One morning, in the month of September, however, 

 to my great pleasure, I found one of these larvae snugly ensconced, head upwards, 

 in a den it had eaten out of the centre of one of the shoots of sedge. When it 

 emerged to feed I found it had quite changed its colour. In the beginning of 

 October it came out of this den, and for some reason it did not return to it again, 

 but climbed about on the grass and sedge, and before it had constructed other 

 winter-quarters, the cold weather set in. In November it had spun together a few 

 leaves of grass, but this seems to have been insufficient. Some warm weather in 

 December caused a mould to spread all over the plant, and, having decided 

 that the caterpillar was dead, I placed it in alcohol. The following is a 

 description of this larva after what I consider was its third moult. Length, 7 lines. 

 General colour, greenish-brown, with head, thoracic shield and thoracic feet black. 

 Head round, larger than either of the first three segments, very coarsely punc- 

 tured and thickly invested with short pointed bristles. About the mouth-parts 

 a few long bristles, thoracic shield black on a pale collar, and having two longi- 

 tudinal furrows, and bearing some truncate bristles just above the large spiracle on 

 segment 2 (prothorax). The shield is divided by a transverse line which cuts off a 

 small triangular piece, of which the apex points downwards just over the spiracle. 

 This triangle bears one long setaceous bristle similar to those on Chionobas jutta and 

 C. macoimii, and also one concave disc of the same nature as those on Cyclopides 

 mandan. The whole surface of the body is minutely shagreened, and has the raised 

 portions darkened. Besides this, the whole of the body but the head is covered with 

 small black tubercles, each of which bears a short white trumpet-shaped hair, which 

 is apparently stellate, or bears a few short teeth, at the top. On the thoracic shield 

 these are rather longer than on the rest of the body, but less clubbed. On the last 

 segments there are a few long bristles, particularly upon the anal flap. Beneath 

 the body are also a few pointed bristles upon the last two segments and on the 

 prolegs and thoracic feet. Thoracic feet black and bristly. Spiracles black and 

 distinctly protruding (in the dead specimen). Concave discs : This species also bears 

 two series of the processes mentioned under Cyclojndes mandan; in this instance, 

 however, they are more like annuli, the edges of the discs being raised and black. 

 They are arranged as follows : There are two series, all of which, except the pair 

 on the base of the thoracic shield and a pair on the anal flap, are below the spiracles. 

 On segment 2, above spiracle and on base of thoracic foot ; on segments 3 and 4, on 

 base of thoracic foot, large ; on segment 5, just below second stigmatal fold, large ; 

 above it is what appears to be another disc, but which bears a truncate hair twice 

 the ordinary length ; on segment 6, on upper stigmatal fold, in the same place as the 

 bristle on previous segment, and below lower stigmatal fold ; on segments 7-10, on 

 upper stigmatal fold and just above the foot of each proleg: on segment 11, one large 

 disc below stigmatal fold, having just above it a similar one, from which comes a 

 long pointed bristle. On one side of the body this tubercle bears two bristles. 

 Those on the feet each have below them two similar bristle-bearing discs. Segment 



12 has one large disc with two or three bristle- bearing tubercles round it. Segment 



13 has a small one at the base of the second stigmatal fold in a line with the 

 spiracles, and also another small pair above, one on each side of the anal flap 

 (Fletcher). 



