APATURA IRIS. 47 



on a leaf,, on which it remained quietly for a couple of 

 days, then at intervals struggling and contorting itself 

 during two more ; however, in the course of the follow- 

 ing day it died with its front segments rigidly curved 

 backwards. 



From the end of August my attention was devoted 

 to the three survivors, of which No. 1 had moulted a 

 second time on the 21st of August, a third time on the 

 28th, and a fourth time on the 5th of September, when 

 it was a little over one inch in length ; on the 11th it 

 fixed itself for its fifth moult on silk spun upon the 

 glass cylinder, and measured then one inch and three- 

 eighths in length; by the 21st it had attained its 

 greatest length of two inches, and was stout in pro- 

 portion. 



From this date, although continuing to feed well, it 

 appeared to be getting shorter by slow degrees, and the 

 few scattered purplish-black points as usual appeared, 

 and by the 25th had greatly increased, forming dark 

 blotches on the back of the tenth, eleventh, and twelfth 

 segments, the general green ground colour becoming 

 paler. In the afternoon of this day it left its favourite 

 silk- carpeted leaf, where latterly it always returned to 

 rest after every meal made on other leaves, and took 

 up a position on a stem, head downwards, the head 

 and front segments hanging free, but in half an hour 

 it removed to another stem, where in a similar posture 

 it remained for about the same space of time. But 

 here, as previously, it seemed incommoded by too close 

 proximity with other stems and leaves, for it again 

 moved off and ascended to one of the upper leaves and 

 crept beneath it, and there, after resting a few minutes, 

 it began to spin a coating of silk, leisurely adding to it 

 at intervals during the evening, and probably during 

 the night, as I noticed next morning some stout threads 

 had been spun from the foot-stalk of the leaf to the 

 main stem, firmly securing the position of one to the 

 other. The larva now remained quite still, its head and 

 horns in line with the body towards the stem, and its 



