AOLOSSA CUPREALIS. 39 



brown, the plates as before, the belly and all the legs 

 colourless. At this date, during a moult, the blackish 

 colouring is lost from the interior, so that only the 

 head retains its colour, and the neck-plate and two or 

 three following segments become greyish; the general 

 appearance now remains much the same for some 

 time, till the length of 9 mm. has been attained, the 

 skin being so clear that the pulsating dorsal vessel 

 can be seen between it and the dark internal organs. 



During hibernation the length remains the same, 



but the body becomes somewhat stouter; at the 



beginning of March, the head is reddish-brown, the 



body dark slaty-grey brown with blackish dorsal line, 



but the back of the eleventh and thirteenth segments, 



the front margin of the second, and all the legs, are 



greyish- white; the skin is still so clear that the 



tracheal threads can be seen through it. From this 



time, as the larva increases in size, it seems to 



become darker in tint, and the skin becomes less 



transparent, and is in itself of a dirty whitish tint, 



and the dusky dots become less distinguishable ; when 



the length is about 12 mm., the general colour is 



brownish-black or black, the head darker than before, 



but retaining its reddish-brown tinge, the middle part 



of the upper lip paler reddish-brown, the jaws black; 



the anal flap pale-brownish and semi-transparent, as 



are all the legs, and the papillae. At this stage, 



however, it seems the colour may vary according to 



the state of the food, or the proximity of a moult ; it 



was noticed that a larva, which was looking pale 



greyish-drab, and was therefore considered a variety, 



on having its food damped turned black in twenty-four 



hours ; and a figure was taken of a larva, more than 



16 mm. long, preparing for a moult, drab in colour, 



with the dots showing black : probably every moult is 



preceded by an obscuring of the dark internal organs, 



so that the colour at such times would always be 



paler. 



A habitation of the larva depicted by Mr. Buckler 



