THE ENTOMOLOGISTS 
WEEKLY INTELLIGENCER. 
No. 193.] SATUEDAY, JUNE 30, 1860 [Price M 
SPOTS. 
Having, a fortnight ago, cautioned our 
young readers who may commence 
describing larvte, as to the correct 
numeration of the segments, we think 
it desirable now to say a few words 
about the spots. It is no uncommon 
circumstance for us to receive a letter 
from some incipient who wishes to 
know the name of some larva he has 
found ; he begins by telling us into how 
many segments the body is divided, 
and then proceeds with great care and 
circumlocution to instruct us iu the 
precise position of the spots. Thus 
he will write, “ On the back of the 
second and third segments (that is, 
what we call the third and fourth) 
are four spots placed iu a line, whereas 
on the back of the remaining segments 
I can see four spots placed two and 
two, but so that the first two on each 
segment are closer together than the 
other two;” he then ])roceeds to de- 
scribe, with equal care, the lateral 
spots, and will write, “ On the sides 
of the second and third segments are 
three spots placed in a triangle, of 
which that in front at the base is 
placed lower down than that at the 
hinder end of the ba.se, but -the fol- 
lowing segments have only two spots 
on the sides, placed one above the 
other, the upper one being immediately 
above the spiracle; on the lower part 
of the side is one row of spots along 
all the segments, a little above the 
legs, then the fourth and following 
segments have another row of spots 
placed on the prolegs (or, on those 
segments which have none, on the 
belly), then between this row and the 
corresponding row on the other side 
there are two rows on the belly, but 
only on those segments after the 
third” (that is, our fourth). 
The incipient having been thus pre- 
cise in telling us the position of 136 
different spots on the caterpillar, and 
having told us how many segments 
the caterpillar has, expects us to name 
it for him ; whereas we are simply able 
to arrive at the conclusion that when 
he penned this elaborate account he 
had some Lepidopterous larva before 
him, but as for saying whether it is 
a Bombyx, a Noctua, a Pyralis, Tortrix 
or Tinea, we are utterly at a loss. 
Tt is true in all these groups we may 
meet with larvae which appear spotless, 
but in most of those we should liud, 
on a closer scrutiny, that the spots 
were there, only small, indistinct, and 
nearly of the ground-colour. In a 
o 
