PAOHNOBIA ALPINA. 49 



purplish-pink. A few became all over purplish-brown 

 the same evening. The egg is very strongly and 

 boldly marked with this dark colouring, the paler 

 ground whitish-straw. Twenty hours before hatch- 

 ing it assumes one uniform purplish-grey tint like the 

 bloom on grapes, bat glistening. The eggs were laid in 

 little scattered groups and singly. The shape of the egg 

 is circular, rounded above, rather flattened beneath, 

 rather boldly ribbed and reticulated, and slightly 

 glistening, becoming paler just before hatching. On 

 the 1st of August one egg hatched, and on the 2nd 

 half the number were hatched by early morning, 

 two more late in the evening, and on the 3rd all but 

 four or five w r ere hatched by early morning, and of the 

 remainder one at noon. 



When just hatched the young larva is of a smoky 

 olive-grey colour with dark shining brown head and 

 plate on second segment, and with minute blackish 

 dots on the body. Given bilberry for food at first 

 they soon riddled the leaves with small holes. First 

 moult ? By the 12th they had become of a dingy 

 brownish olive-green with minute blackish tubercular 

 dots, blackish-brown heads and small plates on second 

 segment. Some were olive-green, skin rather shining. 

 August 15th, a few had moulted (I think for the 

 second time) and the rest were preparing to moult. 

 Wow after this moult the colour is velvety-brown with 

 faintly paler dorsal and subdorsal lines which pass 

 through the second segment like the others, the little 

 darker plate having almost disappeared and become 

 velvety ; the belly paler and rather greyish-ochreous ; 

 the dots black. They seem not to care for heather. 

 They not only skeletonize the bilberry leaves, but eat 

 rather large holes through them. On the 26th of 

 August I removed them from the test bottles, all in 

 good health, for only four individuals had died since 

 they were hatched. October 28th, the last two larvae 

 are dead; after the bilberry plants had shed their 

 leaves, birch, sallow, and heather were supplied as 



vol. v. 4 



