PROORIS GBBYON. 91 



Procris Geryon. 

 Plate XVIII, fig. 3. 



Mr. Buckler figured these larvae May 2nd, 1863, 

 and bred the imago July 19th. In 1861, June 26th, 

 Dr. Knaggs sent me some eggs ; the larvae were 

 hatched on July 10th, but I suppose I did not know 

 what to do with them, for I have no further record in 

 my note-book. In 1886 I received a good supply of 

 the larvae from Mr. J. Gardner, of Hartlepool, on 

 April 19th, and on May 18th a further supply from 

 Mr. G. T. Porritt, but coming from the same locality, 

 where they had been captured on rock-rose, Helian- 

 themum vulgar e, and Mr. J. E. Robson gave me 

 information about their habits. Most of these larvae 

 spun up at the end of May and the beginning of June, 

 but three of them did not spin till June 25th. I bred 

 the perfect insects June 22nd, 27th, and 29th. On 

 July 1st a male and female paired, and by July 5th 

 several eggs had been deposited. July 12th Mr. J. E. 

 Robson sent me a pair which he had found in cop., 

 and the female began to lay on 15th ; meanwhile the 

 larvae from the eggs of the first female began to appear 

 on July 15th. They were placed in a bottle with 

 sprays of rock-rose, and at once began to feed, some- 

 times by gnawing the surface of a flower bud or leaf, 

 and sometimes by burrowing into a leaf and eating out 

 a little blotch, but I never saw more than half the 

 body of a larva inserted into the hole of its burrow. 

 This habit continues some time, but when about a 

 month old they eat away patches from the underside 

 of leaves, the upper skin remaining untouched. The 

 big larvae eat the whole substance of the leaf or even 

 the tender stem of a twig. I tried a larva with 

 sorrel, but it would not touch it. Like statices, Geryon 

 seems to feed best in the sunshine. 



Through the good help that has been given me I 



