PETASIA NUBECULOSA. 5 



Generally they agreed very well together, though two 

 individuals during the earlier stages, while helplessly 

 laid up waiting to moult, appeared to have been incon- 

 veniently in the way of some of the others, and so 

 got fatally bitten behind ; afterwards, with more space, 

 they proved to be very contented and well-behaved. 



They became full-fed from June 26th to 29th and 

 retired to earth ; over the earth, at the end of June, I 

 placed a thick covering of moss, and found after- 

 wards that only two had elected to remain below in the 

 earth, and the other five were lying in the pupa state 

 on its surface beneath the moss ; the larva, with Mr. 

 Hellins, had buried itself four or five inches deep in 

 the loose leaf-mould furnished for its retreat. 



I bred three male moths and one female in March, 

 1882 ; the single pupa of Mr. Hellins' stood over a 

 second winter and disclosed a fine male imago, Feb- 

 ruary 15th, 1883 ; my remaining pupge produced five 

 male and female specimens April 1st, 1883. 



It has been pointed out before that the egg of 

 Nubeculosa (as well as those of P. Cassinea and Diloba 

 cceruleocephala) does not so much follow the Notodonta 

 as the Noctua* type, being circular and convex above, 

 with a largish central space covered with irregular 

 reticulation, and on the sides from forty to forty-five 

 blunt ribs, with somewhat coarse transverse lines ; in 

 height about one thirty-sixth of an inch, in width 

 about one twenty-fourth ; the shell rather glistening, 

 the colour at first dirty drab-green but soon becoming 

 closely and tortuously streaked and blotched with 

 blackish-green ; a few hours before hatching these 

 marks become indistinct and clouded, and the shell 

 looks somewhat shrivelled. 



The newly-hatched larva is about one tenth of an inch 

 in length, with the first and second pairs of ventral pro- 

 legs less developed than the third and fourth pairs, so 

 that the walk is semi-looping ; the head of a rather light, 

 shining orange-brown colour ; the back slaty-grey ; the 



* Many systematists class these species amongst the Noctua — H. T. S, 



