106 PLUSIA BEAOTEA. 



not Plusia bractea, but another species. They proved 

 without vitality. Those I took to be PI. bractea were 

 the most numerous, and their larvse, when hatched, 

 were quite white with faintly darker hairs. The 

 others are rather less white, and have minute black 

 dots and hairs. 



By the 9th of August they all had a watery greenish 

 tinge, with the internal vessel bright yellowish-green, 

 showing plainly through the transparent skin. 



I fed them at first with groundsel, which relaxed 

 them so much as to cause a great mortality at the 

 first moult on the 13th and 14th, when they were from 

 five to five and a half millimetres long, and the 

 tubercular black dots on the fifth, sixth, and seventh 

 segments were larger than those on the other seg- 

 ments. The larvao were thick behind and tapering 

 anteriorly. 



Eleven I put when hatched on Stachys sylvatica 

 are all doing well at this date. The larvaa are greener 

 than before, some of a pale yellow-green, others much 

 jdarker, showing the dark green internal vessel broadly 

 through the skin, over which the white lines can be 

 distinctly traced, and by the 16th of August they 

 measured seven millimetres in length. On the 23rd 

 they moulted the second time, and next day measured 

 from nine to ten millimetres long, when their white 

 lines were very much more distinct, as well as the 

 white linear edging to the dark dorsal line. On the 

 30th some were lying up, and on the 3rd of September 

 had moulted the third time ; they continued to feed 

 on Stachys sylvatica up to the 11th, and from that 

 date to the 17th fed but little, and seemed to be getting 

 torpid ; at this date only one survived of all those 

 of the first lot that had been so purged by eating 

 groundsel. By the end of October all had died except 

 four, yet holding to Galeobdolon luteum; on the 11th 

 of November only three were alive ; these on the 20th 

 of that month I placed on potted plants of Galeobdolon 



