25 
of the hairs of the larvre (in first skin) of these species. Heliothis 
armigera from imported tomatoes. —Mr. Southey exhibited a long 
series of H. armigera, bred from larvae obtained in North London, 
from tomatoes, which had been imported from Spain and Teneriffe. 
Second brood of Acidalia dilutaria (holosericata).— Mr. W. G. Pearce 
exhibited a living specimen of A. holosericata, bred from a Bristol larva 
which had come from an egg hatched last June. Mr. D. C. Bate read a 
paper “ On the early stages of Psilura monacha and its allies.” In the 
course of the discussion that followed, Mr. Bacot made the following 
remarks. — “ The larva? of Psilura monacha and Porthetria dispar 
develop within the egg before the winter. I examined some last 
January, and found the larvaa fully developed, even to the thorns and 
bulbs on the hairs. In the ova of Orgyia antiqua, no apparent develop¬ 
ment had taken place until spring. In the 1st skin of the larva of 
P. monacha, the 3rd thoracic segment is weak, the tubercles on it 
smaller than in other segments; this feature is not present in P. dispar. 
I he anterior trapezoidals very small, only bearing one hair ; posterior 
pair very large, bearing numerous hairs ; this is also the case with P. 
dispar, while with L. salicis it is questionable if the anterior pair are 
present, as I have, up to the present, been unable to find them. 
There are, at least, two distinct kinds of hairs present(1) Short 
spines, with slight traces of thorns, and a bulbous swelling, about 
up from base (the small hairs arising from anterior trapezoidals have 
this bulb). (2) Long and more slender hairs, many of them very 
thorny. The hairs in P. dispar are identical, but there is no trace of 
the bulb on hairs of Leucoma salicis, or any other species that I have 
yet examined. They are present in P. monacha and P. dispar in the 
1st skin only. The upper part of the bulbed hairs is frequently bent 
at a sharp angle, just above the bulb. In the 2nd skin, I noticed 
that the 5th abdominal segment is weak, both it and the 3rd thoracic 
are pale and have smaller tubercles than the other segments; this is not 
the case with Z . dispar. In 3rd skin, the head becomes grey mottled 
with black. The anterior trapezoidals still very small, but bearing five or 
six small hairs. In the 4th skin, the tubercles and hairs smaller, in 
proportion to the size of the larva. In the 5th skin, as in the fourth. I 
could trace no further moults in P. monacha, but I think P. dispar 
sometimes has a fifth moult. There is a tendency for the eversible 
and small glands on the abdominal segments, 1 to 4, to dwindle 
in the later stages of P. monacha, but this does not occur in P. dispar. 
Larv/E of P. monacha vary greatly in coloration. In one of my 
’94 broods (all from same parent) they varied from a form with a laro-e 
amount of white in its coloration, to nearly black with hardly a trace 
of white. I consider that the larvre when young are protected by their 
resemblance to a bird’s dropping, and in later stages by their lichen¬ 
like coloration, the darker forms being difficult to detect, even on the 
smooth bare bark of cherry twigs from a London garden. Porthesia 
stmilis.— This species spins a large thin transparent cocoon, in which 
it changes its skin; it then spins a smaller and much denser cocoon 
occupying about half, or not quite half, the space of the old one, and 
in this inner cocoon it passes the winter, leaving its cast skin in the 
outer chamber.” 
