48 ENNYCHIA ANGUINALIS. 



of Mentha arvensis, singly, and one overlapping 

 another; though they were very flat when first laid, 

 as Mr. Jeffrey informed me, yet I found they had 

 begun to swell, and by the next day had filled out 

 considerably, and on the 17th four of them hatched, 

 and another on the 20th, but no more. 



The larvae moulted three times, the first moult oc- 

 curring when they were eleven days old, the second 

 moult when twenty-five days old, and the third moult 

 at the age of thirty-eight days ; from this last moult 

 the period of maturing varied from thirteen to seven- 

 teen days ; the latest hatched individual was full-fed 

 on the 17th of October, just six days behind the 

 others. 



At Mr. Jeffrey's suggestion I tried Thymus ser- 

 pyllum at first with two larvae, and they took to this 

 food very well as long as the supply lasted, the others 

 equally well to Origanum, feeding on the cuticle of 

 the leaves during the first three days, and thus causing 

 small transparent blotches, and on the fourth day 

 began to eat small holes quite through the substance 

 of either leaf. 



About the end of the month I found only four alive, 

 as one of those two that had previously fed on thyme 

 — a food I was unable to provide any longer — had 

 died, having refused the marjoram, although its com- 

 panion soon took to it, and the others had thriven 

 well on it from the very beginning of their career to 

 the end, eating more and larger pieces from the 

 leaves as they grew bigger ; and latterly whole leaves 

 would be consumed, but only those of a medium size, 

 for they seemed not to care for the larger leaves nor 

 the smallest, nor the blossoms. 



They very cleverly kept themselves concealed, by 

 spinning their light hammocks in such an artful 

 manner as to draw a leaf or two partly round the 

 stem of their location so as to appear like a natural 

 disposition of plant growth ; and so fine and thin was 

 the silk spun under the leaves, that though of whitish 



