1868.] 



177 



head ; tlie abdomen yellowisb-flesh colour, a deep pink stripe at the sides enclosing 

 a central white one, which can also be seen showing through part of the wing- 

 covers. 



Two of the butterflies appeared on June 13th and 14th.--WM. Buckler, 

 Emsworth. 



Natural history of H&pialus hectus. — To the very arduous, long-continued, and 

 valuable exertions of Mr, Joseph Steele, of Congleton, in elucidating the history 

 of this species, I am deeply indebted. 



The eggs are globular, small, and bluish-black, and are laid by the ? over fern 

 brakes towards the end of June. 



The young larva is hatched about the middle of July, and is then of a drab 

 colour, with brown head, and plates on the second and anal segments, and, with 

 the aid of a lens, the hairs on its body are easily seen. 



It burrows in the lower part of the stem, and feeds in the root of Pteris 

 aquilina, and grows but slowly its first season. , 



When a year old it makes good progress, and by or before the end of its second 

 autumn it has apparently attained its full dimensions ; it then ceases to feed, and 

 quits the root, not however going beyond two or three inches from it, and there in 

 the earth remains doi*mant until the following spring. 



In April it re-commences feeding, aud continues to about the end of May or 

 beginning of June, according to the locality and season, though not feeding in the 

 root as before, but attacking the young shoots of the fern ; the parts bitten are 

 oval excavations, about five or six lines long in a vertical direction, and from two 

 to three lines broad, and hence considerable exudation of sap ensues, which probably 

 forms part of the sustenance of the larva, as at this time it is found quite wet, and 

 the stem and soil are even saturated. 



At the end of May or early in June it is full fed, leaves the fern, and just on the 

 surface of the earth, amongst dead leaves, and often under moss, spins an oblong 

 cocoon, lined with silk, and covered with light vegetable or earthy matter. It 

 remains but a short time in the pupa state, as the perfect insect is disclosed during 

 the month of June. 



The full-grown larva is about an inch and one-eighth in length, cylindrical, 

 slender, and tapering a little towards the head, and also just towards the anal 

 extremity ; the head being broad in front and rather flattened, the sides rounded. 



The transverse wrinkles on the segments beyond the fourth are so regularly 

 and uniformly indented, that the segmental divisions cannot well be distinguished 

 from them, the body appearing like a series of rings, each segment being sub- 

 divided into four, the second in front being the widest, and the rest of equal width. 



Its colour is a pale drab, — more or less pale in individuals, — and opaque, 

 becoming on the thoracic segments only a little transparent and shining, and 

 they are funiished with brilliantly-polished plates or horny markings in the fol- 

 lowing order. A black or blackish-brown plate, rounded behind, covering the 

 upper surface of the second segment ; the third and fourth have each a transverse 

 dorsal narrow oblong plate in front, and a very small one on each side below it ; 

 and a little further back, on each side, is a drop-shaped plate, and just above the 

 legs an oval or circular one ; all of these plates, besides one on the anal tip, are 

 dark brown, as also is the head, and highly lustrous, contrasting with the dull 

 appearance of the rest of the body. 



