HADENA REOTILINEA. 57 



(the plant upon which they were feeding when I received 

 them) could be procured for them ; and about the end 

 of October one individual retired to a slight hollow on 

 the surface of the earth, and spun itself over with a 

 semi-transparent web, in which it is now (at the end 

 of March, 1865) still coiled up and visible. 



One or two of the others died in February ; the rest 

 are still attached to the top of their cage, and during 

 the last few weeks have occasionally crawled about a 

 little, but apparently without feeding on any of the 

 various leaves and willow shoots supplied to them ; 

 they have now lost much of their sleekness, and the 

 segmental divisions appear contracted. The follow- 

 ing is a description of their condition at the end of Sep- 

 tember. 



Larva slightly tapering towards the head, with a 

 transparent ridge or lump across the back of the 

 twelfth segment. The dorsal and subdorsal lines 

 grey, and very thin, edged with blackish ; and the inner 

 edge of the subdorsal, at the front of each segment 

 from the fourth, diverges, thus forming a dusky 

 oblique streak on each side of the segment, pointing 

 behind to the centre of the back on the segmental 

 division. The colours of the back are of rich dark 

 browns, others of chestnut browns, and others of 

 ochreous and orange browns. On the back of each 

 segment, from the fourth to the twelfth inclusive, are 

 paler wedge-shaped streaks on each side, viz., a short 

 one on each side anteriorly, pointing backwards, and 

 a long one on each side posteriorly, pointing forwards, 

 thus giving somewhat of a diamond form to the darkest 

 brown of the back. Ordinary spots pale, each con- 

 taining a central black dot, and placed more on the 

 anterior portion of each segment than is usual with the 

 Noctuina in general. A broad deep brown stripe along 

 the sides, mottled and streaked, and slightly edged 

 below with darker colour, and along this are placed 

 the very small white spiracles, which are edged with 

 blackish. Above the first is a rather broad lateral 



