74 PTILOPHORA PLUMIGERA. 



deep russet-brown, then comes a narrow ring of pale 

 brown or dingy flesh-colour, followed by another broad 

 one of dark brown or russet, its lower edge darkest and 

 crenulated, and the lower part of the cone as well as 

 the base is of a pearly whitish tint. Sometimes the 

 central spot and the zones are not so distinct but the 

 whole colouring is of a paler brown and more diffused. 

 The egg does not change colour till just before the exit 

 of the larva when it becomes a little paler ; a small 

 hole on the upper surface or on the side is the only 

 evidence of the larva having escaped from it. The 

 hatching takes place generally from about the 15th to 

 the 25th of April, though this year I found it begin on 

 the 13th and continue to the 20th. 



The newly-hatched larva is about one -eighth of an 

 inch in length, of a very pale greenish- ochreous tint, 

 covered with long, silky, curved whitish hairs. These 

 little fellows feed at first on the buds of the maple, and 

 their delicate tint matches exactly that of the enveloping 

 sheath of the bud ; by the time the buds have begun 

 to burst the larvse have moulted and are no longer so 

 hairy looking, though some few hairs remain. Early 

 in May, when the crumpled young leaves are unfolding, 

 the larva has undergone a further change ; it has now 

 a naked and smooth shining skin, is about half an inch 

 in length, and its colour is a yellowish pellucid green, 

 rather deeper on the back, the spiracular region and 

 belly whitish-green ; the subdorsal pale yellow stripe 

 is already conspicuous on each side of the back, and 

 fine twin lines of the same colour run along the 

 spiracular region. At this stage the larva takes up its 

 characteristic position on the inner side of the leaf 

 where it reposes in a sort of curved posture, with the 

 head bent round on one side towards the fifth or sixth 

 segment of the body on the plane of the leaf. 



By about the second or third week in May, according 

 to the character of the season, the larva attains three- 

 quarters of an inch in length. At this time the back 

 between the subdorsal opaque white stripes is wholly 



