DESCRIPTION OF THE LARVA OF NOLA ALBULALIS. 



By G. T. Porritt, F.L.S. 



On the 13th of of June last I received a supply of these larvae from 

 my friend Mr. J. P. Barrett, of Peckham, from which I at once took 

 down descriptions as follows : — Length when at rest, five-eighths of 

 an inch, when crawling three-quarters of an inch ; rather stout in 

 proportion ; the head is a little narrower than the second segment, it 

 has the lobes rounded, smooth and polished ; the body is of nearly 

 uniform width, and is adorned throughout its entire length with six 

 rows of conspicuous raised tubercles, and from each tubercle proceeds 

 a tuft of tolerably long hairs. The outermost lateral tubercles are 

 the largest ; immediately behind them is situated a row of smaller 

 ones, whilst still higher, on the dorsal area, is a row in size inter- 

 mediate between the two. The segmental divisions are well defined. 

 There are two very distinct varieties : var. I. has the ground colour a 

 delicate pale yellowish green ; in some specimens the head is nearly 

 black, marbled with pale greenish ; in others pale green predomi- 

 nates, with the mandibles black and the marbling pale brown. Between 

 the second and dorsal row of tubercles on each side is an irregular 

 black stripe, composed of a longitudinal series of wedge-shaped marks, 

 joined at the extremities, and outside each of these marks is a small 

 black spot. On the seventh and eleventh segments is a sort of broken 

 transverse collar, extending from the black stripe on one side to that 

 on the other ; in some specimens there are also broken black marks 

 in the centre of the sixth, eighth, ninth, and tenth segments, but 

 these marks vary very much in size, and consequently in distinctness. 

 In some examples, too, the black longitudinal lateral marks are not 

 joined at the extremities, in which case they form a series of distinct 

 wedge-shaped marks on the seventh to eleventh segments inclusive, 

 but scarcely noticeable on the other segments ; in these specimens also 

 the transverse collars are very slight, in some nearly absent ; the 

 tubercles are of the same shade as the ground colour ; the long hairs 

 black, the shorter ones grey. Ventral surface, legs and prolegs 

 uniformly pale yellowish-green. Var. II. has the ground colour 

 bright orange, varying in intensity in different specimens ; the head 

 in some is of the same colour, in others nearly black ; the markings 

 of the body black, arranged in all respects as in Var. I. There 

 N. S., Vol. il-Sep., 1876. 



