APATUEA IRIS. 45 



Its colour is a very pale whitish-green, with whitish 

 oblique lines on the sides, also nervures on the wing- 

 cases and dorsal ridge. In 4;hree weeks the perfect 

 insect was disclosed. (W. B., 8, 67 ; E.M.M., IV, 85.) 



Since the foregoing account of the full-grown larva 

 of Apatura Iris was written, I have had opportunities 

 of observing its development ab ovo. 



For the eggs, I have been indebted to the kindness 

 of Mr. W. H. Harwood, of Colchester, and Mr. E. F. 

 Bisshopp, of Ipswich, viz. a single egg from the former, 

 received the 31st of July, 1875, laid within the three or 

 four previous days on the upper side of a leaf of Salix 

 cajprcea; and from the last named on the 1st of August, 

 1875, four eggs laid July 29th on pieces of paper. 



The egg, as may be supposed, is of a good size, its 

 shape cylindrical, of about equal height and diameter, 

 adhesively fixed in an upright position on its flat base, 

 domed on the top, its surface strongly ribbed, the ribs 

 varying in number from twelve to fourteen. All the 

 eggs were alike in colour when I first received them, 

 viz. of a yellowish olive-green, having near the base a 

 zone of purplish-black, the green portion semi-trans- 

 lucent, the surface glistening. Those laid on the paper 

 began to change on the 4th of August, by displacement 

 of the black zone and the appearance of a blackish spot 

 within the centre ; on the 5th the whole top grew at 

 first cloudy, then blackish, the lower part paler green 

 than before; this on the 6th became still paler, and 

 the ribs whitish, and on that day, about seven o'clock 

 in the evening, three eggs hatched, and the fourth at 

 ten o'clock. The egg from Colchester hatched three 

 days later, after previously passing through similar 

 changes. 



When just hatched the larva has a large rounded 

 head, and two distinctly separated anal points ; its 

 colour is a light dirty greenish yellow, with three 

 faintly darker lines down the back, the head is of a dark 

 chocolate brown. 



The day after hatching each larva was resting on 



