PEMPELIA CARNELLA. 261 



opaque webs thickly besprinkled with grains of frass ; 

 just dimly visible through a portion of the upper web, 

 was a larva evidently about to moult; it remained 

 there motionless until the 27th, when it was no longer 

 in view, but reappeared occasionally, perceptibly 

 grown ; another larva soon after became visible in the 

 web lower down amongst the same stems. 



By the 8th of June the webs were easier to detect ; 

 I then happened to notice a small one near the earth, 

 at the moment the larva in residence came forth to 

 commence an extension for joining a fresh spray to 

 the despoiled one; as it crept cautiously along the 

 lower horizontal part of the stem, it enabled me to see 

 distinctly the details of its naked form before many 

 new threads intervened. 



From the middle of June, during five days I saw 

 about as many of the larva3 similarly engaged, and 

 afterwards taking up their varied positions between 

 new leaflets, lying more or less one over the other, 

 often feeding on the lowest while covered by the 

 uppermost; their webs continued to increase in size, 

 •density, and whiteness, and had so many old stems 

 and partly-consumed leaves blotched with white incor- 

 porated with them, as to be rather conspicuous ; soon, 

 too, the threads from one web began to encroach on 

 another above, and they got in some places quite 

 joined together ; at this time the larvae were remark- 

 ably shy and timid, for on the least disturbance of 

 any part of the plant, or even a breath passing 

 over, they rapidly drew back into the recesses of their 

 abodes. 



I cut off one of these webs on the 1st of July to 

 figure the occupant, and was not a little surprised to 

 find three larvae inside, the largest being three-eighths 

 of an inch long, the next rather less, and the smallest 

 no more than two-eighths ; on the 11th I found one 

 half an inch long, and sent it to Mr. Jeffrey, thinking 

 the usual time for maturity had arrived for some of 

 them. 



