AGEOTIS C1NEREA. 15 



On the 18th October, I put it in a flower-pot, on 

 a growing plant of Thymus serpyllum. 



At the end of March, 1883, I sought for the larva, 

 and found it dead and rigid. 



On the 6th June, 1883, I bought some eggs of 

 Agrotis cinerea, 14 in number ; they were laid on the 

 30th and 31st of May, on chip, in a group of eleven 

 side by side, and another little group of three ; they 

 were ribbed and very much of a wax-like texture, and 

 of a pale greenish-buff tint, each egg having near the 

 top a fine ragged ring of dark greyish-brown not quite 

 completed, and at the top a small central blotch of 

 that colour, Thev continued thus until June 9th, 

 when they had gained a slight increase of tint, and 

 on the 10th they turned to olive-brownish, and on the 

 11th to a dingy purplish within the ring at the top. 

 The ribs were now plainly visible. In the afternoon 

 they became rather cloudy and indistinct, of a paler 

 leaden-drab hue, and late in the evening six of them 

 hatched, and three more by next morning, two in the 

 afternoon, and the remainder next day. 



The newly -hatched larva is dingy greenish-grey or 

 dirty yellowish in colour, with blackish head and plate 

 on the second segment, both shining, and shining 

 black tubercular warts on the body, each with an ex- 

 tremely fine hair. They very soon began to feed, 

 each larva gnawing away the under-surface from a 

 leaf of Thymus serpyllum. By the 21st they had 

 become of a greenish ground colour, the black dots, 

 head, and narrow plate on the second segment still 

 very distinct ; and some of the larvse are now laid up 

 to moult. On the 22nd they began to moult the first 

 time, and are now decidedly green, with all their 

 black dots as before, with increase of stoutness ; the 

 green head strongly marked with black on each lobe 

 and at the mouth ; a mere outline of the plate on the 

 second segment remains ; a faintly paler green dorsal 

 line can be traced, and two lines of rather paler green 

 can be traced along the side. On the 29th and 30th 



