MAMESTRA ABJECTA. 77 



chanced to find under a stone, within a neat little 

 cavity of another stone beneath, embedded in stiff soil, 

 a fine pupa, which, on the 12th of July following, 

 produced a remarkably handsome female specimen of 

 abject a. 



Having so far proved this species to exist on the 

 south coast, I felt encouraged to resume the search in 

 1878 in the same locality, where, during the months 

 of May and June, I found larvae of other species from 

 time to time, yet not one to satisfy me until the 3rd 

 of June, but on that day I felt hopeful of having found 

 abjecta in a young larva adhering to the under side of 

 a stone, where it had sheltered itself with a partial 

 covering of green " frass " spun together with silk, 

 having been also connected with the tuft of grass 

 whereon the stone had lain. 



By assiduously following up this success on all avail- 

 able opportunities, extending the area of research, and 

 raising a large number of stones, much to the discom- 

 fiture of colonies of ants, various beetles, spiders, 

 crustaceans, and slugs, I was again rewarded by 

 finding on the 20th of June a full-grown example of 

 the larva under what proved to be a very lucky stone ; 

 though on turning it over at first there seemed only a 

 large black spider in view, which sprang forward in 

 alarm to a small hole, and as it paused there a moment 

 on the brink, a small spot of pale colour beneath its 

 dark body arrested my attention, and this pale spot 

 proved to be part of the back of the larva, which was 

 soon safely extracted from its snug quarters between 

 the matted grass. 



After figuring and describing the larva, it was 

 placed in a pot furnished with some of its native soft, 

 muddy soil, together with a small tuft of the grass 

 and a stone, and it soon worked its way beneath. I 

 subsequently found it had formed for itself a very 

 slight loose cocoon of silk, with a few particles of soil 

 adhering, not under the stone, but close under the 

 grass at the side of the pot, and the moth, a fine, 



