40 



THE BRITISH NATURALIST. [February 



Larva. — The description of the larva, according to Mr. Porritt, is 

 as follows : — " Length about half-an-inch, and of the usual stumpy 

 form when at rest. Head small and narrower than the second seg- 

 ment, it has the lobes rounded, and is highly polished ; body cylind- 

 rical, attenuated a little posteriorly, each segment plump and distinct^ 

 making the divisions clearly defined ; skin soft and sparingly clothed 

 with short hairs. There are two distinct forms, and intermediate 

 varieties occur, partaking more or less of each of these extreme forms. 

 A'ar. I has the ground colour deep purple ; head yellowish-grey or 

 yellov^-ish -brown, marked on the crown and sides with black, the 

 mandibles brown ; medio-dorsal stripe smoke-coloured ; sub-dorsal 

 lines, and another line of equal wddth below it, white, but interrupted 

 and not very conspicuous ; and below these is another scarcely so 

 pale line along the spiracles ; hairs and the distinct tubercles white, 

 ventral surface and prolegs greenish olive ; anterior legs shining black, 

 ringed with paler. A^ar. 2 has the ground colour bright pale green ; 

 head as in var. i ; the dark, smoky-coloured pulsating vessel— in some 

 specimens tinged with pink anteriorly— forms the dorsal stripe ; sub- 

 dorsal lines indistinct — whitish ; below^ these is another line, but much 

 interrupted, and broken into short lengths ; there are no lines along 

 the spiracular region ; hairs and tubercles white ; ventral surface and 

 prolegs of the bright green of the dorsal area ; the legs shi-iing black, 

 tinged with white " (" Entomologists' Monthly Magazine," Vol. 

 XXIIL, pp. 132, 133). The larvae from w^hich these descri2)tions were 

 made were received from Mr. Eustace Bankes, of Corfe Castle, and 

 Mr. H. B. Fletcher, of Worthing, and were found feeding on Stachys 

 sylvatica on August 25th and September 27th. Mr. Porritt bred the 

 species on August 17th and 19th in 1884. 



Mr. H. D'Orville, of Alphington, writes : — " I have occasionally 

 taken in my garden a specimen or two of ncanthodactylus, and, not 

 having any rest-harrow growing near, suspected some other food 

 plant. I have just bred two specimens from pupae I found firmly 

 attached by the tail-ends to the flower stalks of a scarlet geranium 

 growing in a pot. I had observed that the leaves and petals w^ere 

 eaten by some small larvae, which induced the search" (" Entomolo- 

 gists' Monthly Magazine," Vol. II., p. 138). On the same page Mr. 

 Stainton wTites : — " Prof. Zeller found a larva of this species on a 

 pelargonium, obtained from a gardener, on July 26th, 1846. It bored 



