STAUROPtJS FAGI. 69 



of the last moult, to my great satisfaction, and to bring 

 the larva to maturity. 



It was on the 3rd of September when I happened to 

 notice the larva had fixed itself on an oak twig mid- 

 way between two leaves, in preparation for its last 

 change of skin ; whereupon I placed the twig standing 

 erect in a short bottle having a very small neck, and 

 then by cutting away the lower leaves from the twig 

 secured an unobstructed view of the larva, which had 

 probably been so fixed on the twig all the previous day 

 as it already had a double-headed appearance from the 

 real head being mostly within the skin of the second 

 segment. It was grasping the twig with the four pairs 

 of ventral prolegs, and all the front segments were 

 stretched arching backwards over the erected broad 

 segments of the tail, thus forming a more or less circular 

 position. 



Occasionally, though at long intervals, the fore parts 

 of the body would be gently lifted up and down a little, 

 sometimes varied with a kind of convulsive heave, and 

 once after many hours' stillness the anterior legs were 

 extended laterally to their utmost stretch, quite rigid 

 for a couple of minutes and were then gradually 

 refolded. Quite late at night the tail segments hung 

 down a little but were soon erected again. 

 ? The next morning and throughout the day the first 

 pair of ventral prolegs and the second pair partly, 

 sometimes wholly, were withdrawn from the twig, the 

 hold of the larva being then sustained only by the 

 third and fourth pairs, whereby the head was brought 

 down lower than before on one side or other of the 

 tail. As night drew on all the anterior legs were out- 

 spread to their utmost. 



In the early morning of September 5th I beheld it 

 in the same posture as in the previous night, though 

 about noon the head was even still lower, and with 

 the fore part of the body turned away a little on one 

 side from the tail, and in the course of the afternoon 

 suddenly changed over to the opposite side ; thus, with 



