48 APATURA IRIS. 



tail a little way from the tip of the leaf, the back much 

 arched, the anal pair of legs securely fixed in a pad of 

 silk, and the first ventral pair clinging to the silken 

 carpet, which they dragged off a little from the leaf at 

 the point of contact. The assimilation in colour to 

 the under-side of a sallow leaf was very perfect. 



Larva No. 2 completed its third moult on the 5th of 

 September, and was then seven-eighths of an inch long. 

 After this it was kept apart, feeding well, and attaining 

 the length of about two inches by the 25th of the 

 month, and on the 28th it had spun its carpet under a 

 leaf, and secured itself similarly to the preceding. 



Larva No. 3 moulted a second time on the 3rd of 

 September, when its length was just half an inch; 

 from this time it fed very sparingly, often changing its 

 position as its food was changed, until the 25th of the 

 month, when I found it was hibernating on the stem 

 of a twig, the hinder half of its body enveloped in a 

 mass of silk where it remained immoveable ; only by 

 very gently touching its horns occasionally as winter 

 advanced could I be sure it was alive. 



Beyond keeping them in a room, of which the window 

 was closed only at night, I was unconscious of any- 

 thing I had done to stimulate premature development 

 of the two larvse which so rapidly attained full growth ; 

 certainly I attended to them carefully, and watched 

 them with much interest, especially while feeding, 

 an operation I noticed performed oftener by night than 

 by day. 



After moulting the green colour of the larva was at 

 first very pale, like the under- side of a sallow leaf, 

 for a day or two, for which period it would remain on 

 the underside of a leaf, until its green colour had 

 become brighter and darker, when it would again rest 

 on the upper surface of the leaf. After the last moult, 

 and sometimes before, each larva had a special leaf 

 spun over the upper surface with silk, on which it 

 rested in such a position that its head was facing the 

 foot-stalk, and bent down so as almost to touch the 



