ANCHOOELIS L1TTJRA. 67 



on the 5th of April, 1870 ; by the 22nd, the larvae 

 were three-eighths of an inch long ; by May 15th they 

 had attained twice that length, and about the end of 

 the month they, like mine, all went to earth ; the 

 moths appeared September 2nd to 11th. With me, 

 however, the eggs did not hatch before the 11th of 

 April, 1870. 



The shape of the egg is circular, but flattened, and 

 greatly depressed in the centre, slightly ribbed and 

 reticulated, having withal a shrivelled, empty appear- 

 ance, as though its contents had been squeezed or 

 dried out of it ; the colour at first is pale yellow, soon 

 after turning to a slightly pinkish leaden hue, and the 

 shell is very glistening — in fact, the flat mass of eggs 

 seemed smeared over with a coating of transparent 

 varnish or gum, which I fancy would in nature attach 

 them to some cover on the upper as well as the lower 

 surface ; I think they would be laid in cracks, or under 

 loose bits of bark ; as the time of hatching approached 

 the colour seemed but very little heightened, and when 

 the young larvae had emerged from them, the empty 

 shells looked brilliantly crystalline. 



The newly-hatched larvae were pinkish-grey in 

 colour, with the dorsal vessel appearing as a dark 

 grey, leaden stripe, the pale brown head large in pro- 

 portion ; within a fortnight they became of a dull 

 flesh colour ; after the second moult they were pale 

 greyish-green, and soon turned darker, then showing 

 the usual lines pale and distinct, their length being 

 now three-eighths of an inch, and their figure pro- 

 portionately stout ; by the 6th of May they were five- 

 eighths of an inch long, of a yellowish-green colour, 

 the lines rather paler green, the tubercular dots 

 exceedingly small and blackish ; by the 15th they 

 were three-quarters of an inch long, of a pale yellow- 

 green, the lines all present but unobtrusive ; up to 

 this time they had fed almost entirely on the common 

 garden monthly rose, which they preferred from the 

 first to all other food given them in great variety from 



