THE BLACK-VEINED WHITE 
293 
party of larvae was found huddled together. The long soft 
hair of their bodies intermingling gives them the appearance 
of being enveloped in down; this, coupled with the density 
of the wall of the compartment and the massive outer covering 
of the web, affords them great protection against cold and 
damp, the whole combined forming a very secure' and snug abode. 
At the end of March, the larvae emerge from hibernation 
and rest on the outside of the web. After feeding on the 
expanding buds, they 
retreat into the web. 
By the middle of 
April, having fed for 
about a fortnight, they 
rest together in compact 
parties, dispersing to 
feed each time and strip 
the twigs of plum, 
leaving only the mid¬ 
ribs of the leaves. They 
begin first on the ter¬ 
minal leaves and feed 
downwards, returning to 
the tips to rest. Each 
journey they spin webs, 
backwards and forwards, 
forming a carpet of silk 
over the branches along 
which they travel. 
The larva becomes 
fully grown after the 
fourth moult, and when about 280 days old It then measures 
from 32 mm. to 35 mm. in length. The dorsal surface is 
black with a sub-dorsal, longitudinal, ochreous-orange band. 
This is composed of numerous speckles, in the centre of each 
of which rises a fine hair, with a tiny black, shining bulbous 
base ; all the hairs, except the white ones, are either orange 
or amber, while the black surface is very finely granulated 
and sprinkled with shorter and very fine black hairs, and a 
few long, wavy white ones, with an ochreous ring encircling 
each at the base. The whole surface below the sub-dorsal 
Winter nest of the Black-veined White. 
Larva emerging after hibernation. Sketched 
from life. 
