Insects. 



8697 



Description of the Larva of Epione vespertaria. — The eggs are laid in J uly or 

 August, two, three or four together, on any object the female may find at hand ; they are 

 flattened and depressed in the centre, smooth and of a pale yellow colour when just laid, 

 changing* in a few days, if fertile, to a bright deep pink, which colour they retain until 

 the following May, when the time for hatching approaches ; they then become deeper 

 in colour, and finally lead-coloured : the larva lives on the leaves of Salix phylicifolia, 

 and feeds for about three weeks : when full fed it rests in a slightly bent position, but 

 if annoyed it falls off its food-plant, attached by a thread, and remains perfectly mo- 

 tionless on the earth, bent nearly double and feigning death. Head semiporrect, quite 

 as wide as the body, and emitting numerous scattered hairs : body very uneven ; the 

 5th segment appears restricted, it is evidently of less circumference than the rest; the 

 divisions of the segments are deeply incised ; there are no humps that, will admit of a 

 description. Head purple-brown, mottled ou the crown ; the clypeus, and frequently 

 also a spot on each side of it, pure white; the base of the antennal papilla? is also 

 white : body purplish brown, variegated with both darker and lighter markings ; there 

 is a dark but indistinct narrow median dorsal stripe, traversed throughout by a pale 

 thread-like stripe, and bordered on its side by another narrow pale line ; all these lines 

 are indistinct and inconspicuous ; exterior to them, on the 5th segment, are two white 

 subdorsal lines, each composed of several white dots: between the 5th and 6th segments 

 is a lozenge-shaped mark, rather paler than the rest of the dorsal surface ; the 6th seg- 

 ment has four dorsal white dots, disposed in a quadrangle ; the 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 1 1th 

 and 12th segments have each a pair of such dorsal white dots placed transversely ; on 

 the 6th segment is a transverse series of four blackish blotches, the outer or lower of 

 which on each side includes a black spiracle in a pale ring ; on each side of the larva 

 are a few white dots, in addition to those I have mentioned : belly rather paler than 

 the back, but each segment has two transversely-placed black dots, and in the inci- 

 sions between the segments are also three other longitudinal dark markings ; the dark 

 dots on the belly and other parts of the body are minute warts, and each emits a short 

 black bristle ; legs and claspeis, as well as the ventral surface between the ventral and 

 anal surface, purplish brown.* It spins a very slight web on the surface of the earth 

 near the end of June, and the imago appears in July: the females are difficult to find, 

 being of retiring habits and very sluggish : the males fly freely. I am indebted to 

 Mr. Birks, of York, for specimens of this larva. — Edward Newman. 



Description of the Larva of Nyssia zonaria. — The female lays her eggs in April, 

 inside the sheath of the commoner grasses that occur on the sand-hills on the Cheshire 

 coast : this singular habit is also that of the moths in captivity, or they will avail them- 

 selves of any kind of straw provided for them, always depositing the eggs within the 

 sheath : the eggs are closely packed together, but without much regularity ; at first 

 they are of a pale pea-green, but soon change to a dark lead-colour, and afterwards to 

 a dull brown, and the young larva emerges the first week in May: the infant larva 

 differs but little from the adult, except that the lateral stripe is pale and inconspicuous : 

 as the larva increases in size it generally rests with the back arched, both legs and 

 claspers being attached to the food-plant: on being annoyed it is apt to fall from the 

 food-plant, always, however, attaching itself by a thread ; when on the ground it 

 remains .perfectly quiescent and bent double. Head about as wide as the body, not 

 notched on the crown: body uniformly cylindrical, without warts or excrescences. 

 Head gray, irrorated with black ; dorsal surface of the body gray, tinged with ochreous, 

 and delicately marked with black dots, which are arranged in short and very irregular 

 VOL. XXI. 3 D 



