124 CATOCALA PROMISSA. 



side of each segment ; after the second moult, at 

 the end of a fortnight, the larva was five-eighths of 

 an inch in length, and of stouter character, having an 

 elevated ridge on the back of the ninth and twelfth seg- 

 ments, the anterior pairs of ventral legs now first in 

 use for walking over the food by night ; the colour- 

 ing very lichenous in appearance, no lines on the 

 sides, but large and conspicuous whitish blotches on 

 the fifth, eighth, and ninth segments, the elevated 

 ridge darker grey than the rest ; in another week, 

 when the length of seven -eighths of an inch was 

 attained, a whitish narrow streak appeared over the 

 crown of the head, and the ridge on the ninth segment 

 became black, the rest of the body light greenish- 

 grey with paler blotches as before ; on the 16th of 

 May one of the two larvae fixed itself for a moult, but 

 died on the 19th, unable to complete the operation. 

 Meanwhile the remaining larva throve well, and by the 

 21st had become one inch and three-eighths in length, 

 the growth being rapid now, the colouring much as 

 before, very lichenous in appearance ; the last moult 

 occurred during the night of the 23rd, and the next 

 morning I found it measure one inch and three- 

 quarters in length, the general colouring a rather 

 greener grey than at any previous stage ; even the 

 whitish blotches were now faintly tinged with greenish- 

 ochreous ; on the 26th it bad reached its full growth, 

 when I took its third portrait, and a full description 

 which follows presently ; on the 28th it was shorten- 

 ing evidently, although continuing to feed at night till 

 the 30th, when it had decreased considerably, and was 

 irritable at the least disturbance, and on the 31st it re- 

 tired amidst some sprays of oak, and entered a little 

 way into some light soil beneath, where it formed a 

 cocoon composed chiefly of small particles of dry stalks 

 and roots with peat earth, and lined, as I afterwards 

 found, with coarse whitish silk, disposed in very large 

 meshes, yet smooth enough ; the upper surface being 

 just level with the surrounding soil, and partly attached 



