ANTHEOCERA MINOS. 11 



disappeared, I suppose having sickened and died, but 

 the thyme was now so dense I could not find them. 



On the 1st April the five survivors moulted again, 

 coming out almost black, as before and gradually 

 becoming paler till they were dark olive-green. On 

 the 15th April they again moulted (as I have before 

 noticed in the case of A. trifolii, the moult takes place 

 by the skin splitting all along the back), and again 

 came out darker than before. 



About the end of April they had attained their 

 largest growth, somewhat less I imagine than would 

 have been attained in a state of nature, the heat of 

 their position hastening their changes. They were 

 of the usual fat, soft Anthrocera figure, measuring six- 

 eighths of an inch when in motion, but only five-eighths 

 when at rest. The colour all over was a rich, dark 

 olive-green ; the dorsal line was dirty whitish, showing 

 broadest and palest at the commencement of each seg- 

 ment ; on each side of it was a row of eleven black velvet 

 round dots placed on the front of each segment from 

 the third to the thirteenth; below this was a row of eight 

 yellow spots on the fourth to the eleventh segments, 

 placed on the hinder part of the segments in such a 

 way that the yellow spot of each came just below the 

 black dot of the segment behind it. The spiracles were 

 black ; the belly rather paler than the back. The usual 

 dots were not visible; but each segment bore in a 

 transverse row eight fascicles of stiff white hairs, five 

 or six in a fascicle. 



I noticed throughout their growth these larvaB moved 

 and fed with most energy in the sunshine. 



On the 2nd of May, the four larvse I had retained 

 began to spin, fixing themselves on the glass cylinder 

 and not on their food-plant ; two placed themselves 

 horizontally, and the other two in a perpendicular 

 position. The cocoons were of a glistening, dirty 

 white; they were shorter than the cocoons of A. trifolii 

 and A. filipendulce, being of a more truncate form. The 

 pupa was brown, with the wing-cases rather darker 



