OF THE ASPIDOMOKPHA MILIARIS. 131 



The larvae are, at first, of a uniform light greenish yellow' 

 colour, semi-transparent so that when seen under the micros- 

 cope by transmitted light, their internal organs appear as dark 

 patches of varying size and shape. (Fig. 1). 



They are very active, but if the proper food be near, they 

 as a rule settle down in a flock together, and only move on as 

 the surface of the leaf is eaten. 



For the first few days of life they only eat half through 

 the leaf, but as they grow larger they eat all but the largest 

 veins. 



The only food as yet found acceptable to them, though 

 several have been tried, is the leaves of the Ipomea earned 

 (Woodrow), I. superbiens (Ferminger). 



The larva,_(Figs. 1 & 2) is oval in shape, with six legs, and 

 has 32 processes projecting in all directions from the circum- 

 ference of its body. These processes are furnished with 

 spines, and vary slightly on each successive larval skin. In 

 the youngest forms they are of unequal lengths, and longer in 

 proportion to the size of the body, while in the later forms, 

 they become more regular in size and shorter in proportion. 



In addition to these the larva has a forked process pro- 

 jecting from the dorsal surface of the abdomen, which in the 

 young forms is very long and slender, and in all forms slightly 

 longer than the lateral processes. 



This forked process by means of which the Cassidides are 

 commonly said to cover themselves with a shelter or sunshade 

 of excrement, is not much used in that manner by this species. 

 The process is used in throwing oft' each old larval skin, during 

 which proceeding the skin is often retained on the process for a 

 considerable time, but the larvae almost invariably obtain shel- 

 ter from the sun and rain by remaining on the under surface of 

 the leaf they are living on, and the forked process is, as often 

 as not, quite clean. 



Larvae take from 18 to 21 days to arrive at maturity and 

 stop feeding, during which time they shed their skins some 5 

 or 6 times, increasing in size and developing black marks on 

 the dorsal surface of the abdomen. They then attach them- 

 selves to a leaf by a false foot dropped from the abdomen 



R.A.Soc, No. 53. 1909. 



