3o 
the micropyle. The usual sinking in of the upper side takes place as 
the development of the larva proceeds. When first laid, the eggs are, 
if I remember aright, of an extremely pale green, hut I seem to have 
carelessly omitted to make any exact note on the point; certainly 
after a day or two they are of a decided, though still light, green, and 
somewhat glistening'". The upper surface, as it becomes depressed, 
also becomes greyer in colour, and the last day or two before hatching 
there is a reddish spot here. The egg has no stage corresponding to 
the red winter-stage of the Epirrita or Operophthora group. The 
duration of the oval period is about ten to twelve days. 
Larva. — T fear my stray notes are here of no value. When first 
hatched it its fairly stout in proportion to its length, pale greenish- 
yellow with the head browner, and bears no resemblance—at least 
superficially—to that of E. dilutata or ciutumnata. It grows rapidly 
under normal conditions, though a friend of mine had some lame hang 
back unaccountably. All of mine were fullfed in just about four weeks 
from hatching. Like so many of the Larentiids. they have only three 
eedysest, and these divide up the larval life into four almost exactly 
equal periods, each change being indicated in my diary as taking place 
just, or just about, a week from the preceding. In Epirrita there are 
invariably four ecdyses. In the second instar:]:, Yenmia rambnca is still 
without any distinct markings, but is bluer-green dorsally than else¬ 
where (no clear demarcation, however) and has an ill-defined dark 
bluish-grey dorsal blotch at the anal end. I noted the segmental 
incisions as rather dark and the segments as swollen laterally. In the 
fourth instar the shape and proportions are still much the same, i.e., 
moderate thickness, segments somewhat swollen laterally, incisions 
deep. The head is shining light-brown, the body about the colour of 
Operaphthera brumata larva in its normal forms. The dorsal area is 
bluish-green, subdorsal lines and segment-incisions greenish-yellow; 
to the subdorsal follows another line of bluish-green, below which the 
lateral area (which is slightly rugose) is mainly green-yellow or yellow- 
green, but somewhat mottled. There is a thick irregular pm pie-red 
line on the sides of the thoracic segments just above the legs, and 
again in a similar position on abdominal segments 2-4, and a spot of 
the same colour on the side of the anterior prolegs ; some specimens 
have further three red dots above the red line on abdominals 2-4§. 
The larva makes a loose cocoon on or near the surface of the earth, in 
which to pupate; Newman’s larva, which pupated among leaves, must, 
I think, have been quite abnormal ; at any rate, I have a friend who 
found they would sulk and die when not provided with earth, rather 
* Hoffmann ( loc. cit.) describes them as unieolorous whitish-green. 
f Hoffmann (loc. cit.) evidently overlooked one moult, as he only indicates two. 
J This, I think, must be the stadium overlooked by Hoffmann. 
§ Hoffmann (loc. cit.) gives a fairly full description of the adult larva which 
adds some details not recorded by me. Buckler’s figures (loc. cit.) show three 
varieties: fig. 7 brightishgreen, with lateral blotches on meso- and metathorax, and 
on 2nd and 3rd abdominals (posteriorly), and 4th abdominal (irregular), and dorsal 
double dashes on the posterior halves of abdominals 2nd and 3rd, and anterior half 
of 4 ; fig. 7a is slightly paler, especially posteriorly, where the tint is yellower, has 
less bloiches on its thoracic segments, those on abdominal 2 formed into a narrow 
transverse belt, the lateral ones on abdominals 3-4 extended and run into one ; 
fig. 7b is very pale, with much of the lateral atea reddish-blotched, and a rather 
narrow dorsal reddish band from metathorax to front half of abdominal 4. 
