PTEROPHORQS LIENIGIANUS. 367 



On the 26th of May, I caught sight in a neighbour- 

 ing lane of a bladdery-looking leaf of Artemisia 

 vulgaris, which I instantly recognised, and I had the 

 exceeding satisfaction of finding the pretty little hairy 

 larva of P. lienigianus very much at home, with 

 several more, occupying other leaves of the same 

 plant. 



This larva has the most singular mode of life of any 

 plume larva with which I am acquainted. When 

 young, it gnaws oblong blotches near the tips of 

 upper leaves of the Artemisia, leaving the cuticle of 

 the upper side entire and nearly transparent, eating 

 the parenchyma, and carefully rolling back the downy 

 skin of the under-side to the edge of the blotch (as is 

 done by the larva of P. galactodactylus on burdock). 

 These blotches are seldom more than half an inch 

 long, but generally there are two or three of them 

 side by side. 



When about one-fourth grown, the larva moves 

 down to a lower leaf, which it draws together, 

 uniting the tips underneath, and carefully sewing 

 together the edges of the segments, so as to make a 

 secure little tent, inside which it feeds as before, only 

 making larger blotches side by side, between the ribs 

 of the leaf, until the greater part of the parenchyma 

 is devoured, after which it deserts this habitation, 

 makes another lower down, and so on, constructing 

 four or five tents before becoming full-grown. 



Then, disdaining to make use of the larval habita- 

 tion as a protection for the pupa, it descends towards 

 the ground, and becomes a hairy pupa on the lower 

 part of the stem, or on some bit of stick or other 

 convenient object. 



The pupa has, strongly developed, the curious 

 power (shared more or less by most of those of the 

 Pterojplwridde) of throwing its head back over its tail 

 with considerable force. Thus, anything touching 

 the anal segment is pretty certain to receive a smart 

 rap — delivered backwards — from the head of the pupa. 



