No. 4. — 1848.] ON COLLECTING LEPIDOPTERA. 



9 



economy. The female is perfectly wingless (apterous), never 

 quitting the case in which she has passed her two previous 

 stages of existence. The larvae of both sexes, when about to 

 uudergo their final change, tlx themselves by the apex to a 

 twig or leaf, and when the male emerges from his living tomb 

 the female has changed to a pulpy maggot, wholly differing 

 from the swiftly flying male. Impregnation takes place within 

 the case, and the female dies, becoming a mass of fine downy 

 silk, and eggs. The young larvae are excluded from the eggs, 

 and immediately form their cases from the substance of their 

 dead mother; then dropping by hundreds from the empty case 

 they each eagerly seek a tender leaf, and commence their great 

 work of existence — eating, changing, and reproducing. Twelve 

 species of these have been found in Ceylon. The Tines are 

 unluckily too well known, and dreaded, to need any particular 

 mention, except that the insect collector, if not attending 

 strictly to the directions hereafter laid down for preserving his 

 specimens, will find he has made a fine collection of these 

 species to the loss of all his others. 



Care must be taken never to disturb a caterpillar that is 

 stationary — in fact, larva? should never be handled if possible ; 

 they may always be captured by gathering the leaf on which they 

 are found. A stationary larvae is most likely undergoing his 

 " moult" or change of skin. This change occurs several times 

 in his life, and a slight squeeze would at such a period probably 

 prove fatal. If injured at the last change to a chrysalis, a 

 deformed fly will be the result. The caterpillar of a fine unique 

 moth (Ptoatoria) that I transmitted to Colombo by post from 

 Chilaw, received a bruise, and one of its inferior wings is per- 

 fectly white and clear with no scales upon it. 



In this country I have observed the final change is not so 

 visible in its approach as in England. There, the larvae often 

 neglects his food for several days, is restless, and sickly ; here, 

 he eats till the last moment, and the only sign (and that not 



