PEMPKLIA FDSCA. 271 



heath, which I suppose must be the natural food, as 

 there is no sallow on the heaths where the moths 

 occur. 



The red colour was retained until they were about 

 a quarter of an inch long, but after the next moult 

 they became uniformly dull black or brownish -black, 

 the black head and frontal plate only having a polished 

 appearance. I was from home at the time the change 

 took place, so cannot tell exactly at what date the 

 moult was effected. Up to this time, too, they had 

 fed in the leaves, eating the inside between the upper 

 and under skins ; but after this they spun together 

 two or more leaves, and ate from the outside of the 

 leaf, — only, however, the softer parts, leaving the 

 ribs and veins. 



On the 28th of July they were three-eighths of an 

 inch long, and, by the 5th of August, half an inch 

 had been attained, when I took down notes on them 

 as follows : — 



The body is slender, cylindrical, and of nearly uni- 

 form width, tapering only slightly towards the anal 

 extremity ; the head is a little narrower than the 

 second segment, rounded, with the mandibles promi- 

 nent ; both it and the frontal plate are polished; the 

 segmental divisions are well defined, and from each 

 segment being also divided by a transverse depression 

 the skin has a rather wrinkled appearance ; there are 

 a few scattered short hairs. 



The colour of almost the whole of the larva is a 

 uniform dull black, showing brownish at the seg- 

 mental divisions only, though an exceptional larva is 

 entirely of this brown tinge. The black specimens 

 have the ventral surface slightly paler, but there are 

 no other discernible markings of any sort. Alto- 

 gether it is one of the most unicolorous larvae I ever 

 saw, and no species on our list is more appropriately 

 named than Phycis carbonariella, the larva, imago, 

 and habitat (the burnt, charred parts of the heaths) 

 being almost equally black. 



