70 PREPANA SICULA. 



middle of it ; the walls (so to speak) in a short time 

 began to approach each other as the foundations were 

 progressing, which consisted of three or four thick 

 little pads of silk attached on either side opposite each 

 other, drawn from time to time closer and closer 

 together and connected by very short and stout 

 threads ; these were presently rendered still shorter 

 by a few threads drawn amongst them from one to 

 the other at various angles which seemed to contract 

 the opening, and to bring the stud-like fastenings 

 almost together. At this point the larva rested for 

 awhile, and next morning I found any further watch- 

 ing was effectually prevented; the cocoon had been 

 made, and the covering of the narrow orifice last spun 

 was of a pale, rusty-red colour, which in a day or two 

 became a little darker, while the earlier fastenings I 

 had seen spun turned purplish-brown, looking like 

 dark veins on a decaying part of a leaf. 



On examining the cocoon after the exit of the moth, 

 I found it very smooth within and made of very strong 

 silk, not easily torn open, of a rusty-brown colour 

 like that of the leaf containing it ; the pupa-skin pre- 

 sented but little on which to remark in its general 

 form, its length a little over half an inch and its 

 diameter three-sixteenths ; in figure it was rounded at 

 the head, and tapering but little till near the anal tip, 

 which was rather prolonged in a blunt point ending 

 with three central curled-topped bristles, with a 

 shorter one on each side of them ; where the thorax 

 and another part had been rubbed a little, the rusty- 

 red colour of the pupa-skin without gloss and rather 

 rough, could be seen. The rest of the surface was 

 covered with a soft adhesive opaque white powder. 

 (W. B., 5, 5, 77; E.M.M. XIV, 1.) 



I am now able to offer a few more observations to 

 fill up the hiatus in the early part of the history of 

 this larva, and am much indebted to Mr. W. H. Grrigg 

 for his perseverance and kind help, which have enabled 

 me to give the following details : 



