88 APAMEA UNANIMIS. 



differed in no way from the one above mentioned, that 

 I have no doubt of this, which I am about to describe, 

 being the typical form of the larva, at least in this 

 country. 



Unfortunately I can say but little of the egg state, 

 and nothing of the juvenile larva ; for though some 

 years ago I imprisoned a female moth in a pot with 

 growing Aira flexuosa covered with leno, the eggs she 

 deposited were allowed to hatch and the young larvae 

 to escape during my absence from home ; I had, how- 

 ever, previously noted that the eggs were of a pale 

 drab colour, and were all adhering to the blades or 

 leaves of the fine grass about four or five inches from 

 the soil. 



Besides Triticum repens and other grasses, the larva 

 seems partial to a variety of Phalaris arundinacea, the 

 striped ribbon-grass of gardens. On the approach of 

 cold weather it seeks a hybernaculum often in the loose 

 grassy sods at the foot of a tree, particularly affect- 

 ing decayed willows, and occasionally under the bark, 

 and sometimes within the tree itself, amongst the rotten 

 dust. At the end of February or beginning of March 

 it wakes up, but not to feed again, and after crawling 

 about for a few nights, finds a suitable place for pu- 

 pation. Some of the larvae I had in captivity spun 

 amongst the roots of the grass, and others in loose, 

 light soil, and the perfect insects came forth from the 

 27th to the 30th of May, 1871. Before proceeding 

 with my description I desire to offer my thanks to the 

 Rev. Henry Williams and to Mr. H. D'Orville, for 

 their valuable assistance in supplying larvse both in 

 spring and autumn. 



In October the full-grown larva measures from one 

 and one-eighth to one and a quarter inches in length 

 when stretched out, but often contracts itself to one 

 inch; it is cylindrical, of about uniform moderate 

 stoutness, tapering very slightly just at each end, the 

 head being a trifle the smallest of the segments, and 

 the anal segment rounded at the tip. The smooth 



