8786 



Insects. 



(aspen) and other species of poplar. When hatched the young larvae associate in 

 companies, spin together the leaves of the food-plant without altering their perfectly 

 flat position, and reside entirely in the domicile thus formed, eatin.g only the upper 

 cuticle and parenchyma of the lower of the two leaves of which their dwelling is com- 

 posed, leaving the ribs as it were skeletonized, yet connected together by the lower cuticle. 

 When the leaves forming this dwelling are separated the larvae are seen iu a curved 

 position, the head turned on one side. After ten days the larva leaves its domicile at 

 night to feed, and returns to it before morning. The head is rather wider than the 

 body, which is somewhat depressed in form, but of nearly uniform substance through- 

 out ; there is a dorsal hump on the 5th and another on the 12th segment ; each seg- 

 ment, except the 2nd, which has but a single wart on each side, has also a transverse 

 series of six warts of nearly uniform size, besides a minute wart just behind the spiracle 

 on the 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th and 12th segments ; on the 9th, 10th and 1 1th segments there 

 are two warts below the spiracle instead of one ; all the warts emit silky hairs : at this 

 period the head is black, the body opaque black, with a broad pale yellow median 

 stripe, which is composed of four narrow approximate stripes, and is interrupted on 

 the 5th and 12th segments by the dorsal humps, which are black; all the warts are 

 pale yellow ; the belly, anal flap and anal claspers are smoke-coloured, with a tinge of 

 pink ; the legs black ; the ventral claspers smoke-coloured. After the last ecdysis, 

 which takes place in May, the larva leaves its domicile, rarely returning to it, and its 

 appearance is greatly altered ; the black dorsal humps remain, the warts and hairs 

 remain; the warts orange-red, the hairs nearly white; the whole body with these 

 exceptions is reddish gray, spotted with black ; the body having greatly increased in size 

 is now wider than the head, which is black only on the sides, having a red stripe down 

 the face, a black clypeus and a white labrum : it still spins together the leaves of its 

 food-plant, the lower usually remaining flat while the upper is raised into a manifest 

 convexity ; in this retreat it changes to a pupa of a dark brown colour, and rounded at 

 the anal extremity. The perfect insects appear in July, and immediately commence 

 bleeding; the larva? again feed up, remain in the pupa state during the winter, and 

 emerge in the ensuing April. I am indebted for this larva to the Rev. Percy Andrews. 

 — Edward Newman. 



Description of the Larva of Notodonla carmelita. — The female lays her eggs on the 

 smallest twigs of the food-plant before the buds have burst, and the eggs are hatched 

 in fourteen or sixteen days ; the infant larva resembles the adult, excepting that the 

 lateral stripe is inconspicuous and very faint yellow, the red markings not being observ- 

 able. The adult larva rests generally in nearly a straight posture, the first pair of 

 claspers not being attached, but the anal pair usually holding on. Head scarcely 

 larger than the second segment, porrected when at rest : body scarcely cylindrical, 

 convex and transversely wrinkled above, slightly dilated at the sides, and flattened 

 beneath, somewhat attenuated towards both extremities ; there is no trace of the dorsal 

 elevation on the 11th segment so observable in some of the genus. Head pale, semi- 

 transparent green, with two approximate longitudinal yellow lines on the face, sepa- 

 rated only by the usual suture ; dorsal surface of the body apple-green, with raised pale 

 yellow markings variously situated; a bright stripe along each side, being a dilated 

 skin-fold, and including the spiracles, which are black ; this stripe is of three colours, 

 white, yellow and pinkish red, the colours being clearly defined ; it commences imme- 

 diately behind the head, and extends the entire length of the larva, passing below the 

 anal flap ; belly, legs and claspers glaucous-greeu. Feeds on Betula alba (birch) ; 



