82 MELIT^lA ATHALIA. 



To the larvae which Mr. Harwood sent me I offered 

 the choice of Melampyrum jpratense and Plantago lan- 

 ceolata, but found the latter plant quite neglected by 

 them, even when they had finished up their supply of 

 the former. On the 24th of May they began to sus- 

 pend themselves to the undersides of the leaves, and 

 to the sides of their glass cage, and on the 27th they 

 had all assumed the pupa state. 



The perfect insects, of an unusual depth and rich- 

 ness of colour, and of maximum size, emerged from the 

 27th to the 30th of June. 



The full-grown larva is about one inch in length and 

 moderately stout ; viewed sideways, it is of about uni- 

 form bulk throughout, viewed from above, it is seen to 

 taper slightly just towards each extremity ; the head 

 is indented on the crown, is widest at the sides near 

 the mouth, and rather flattened in front; the body is 

 thickly covered with obtuse conical spines, to the 

 number of 113 as follows : the segments from the fifth 

 to the eleventh, both inclusive, bear each eleven spines, 

 arranged in a single transverse row on the back and 

 sides ; or, if they are regarded longitudinally and col- 

 lectively, we may say that on segments five to eleven 

 inclusive there are eleven rows of spines, viz. the dorsal 

 and on each side the subdorsal, supra- spiracular, sub- 

 spiracular, lateral, and sublateral ; the other segments 

 have as usual a different arrangement ; the second seg- 

 ment bears but two spines on each side, which are in a 

 line with the lateral and sublateral rows ; the third seg- 

 ment has ten spines, the dorsal one only being absent ; 

 the fourth segment has eight spines, the lateral as well 

 as the dorsal being absent ; the twelfth segment bears 

 ten spines, the single dorsal being here replaced by 

 two, i.e. one in front, the other at the hind part of the 

 segment, whilst the lateral pair are absent ; the thir- 

 teenth segment has but four spines, which stand two 

 on each side, in line with the supra- spiracular row of 

 the rest ; of all these spines, those in the two lowest 

 rows are the most slender and smallest, and those in 

 the subdorsal rows are rather the largest. 



