The Entomologist's record and journal of variation . reed, cocksfoot grass, sallow, dandelion, lettuce andconvolvulus (a species of convolvulus occurs in the habitat). Thelarvae wandered around a great deal and nibbled the lettuce in adesultory manner producing a httle frass. After three days andgrowing slightly frantic I introduced a small piece of dead woodwhich had a growth of the green alga Desmococcus (=Pleurococcus)on the surface. This was a popular move as within a few hours allthe larvae had congregated on the wood surface and were feedingon the alga. They continued to eat the Desmococ
The Entomologist's record and journal of variation . reed, cocksfoot grass, sallow, dandelion, lettuce andconvolvulus (a species of convolvulus occurs in the habitat). Thelarvae wandered around a great deal and nibbled the lettuce in adesultory manner producing a httle frass. After three days andgrowing slightly frantic I introduced a small piece of dead woodwhich had a growth of the green alga Desmococcus (=Pleurococcus)on the surface. This was a popular move as within a few hours allthe larvae had congregated on the wood surface and were feedingon the alga. They continued to eat the Desmococcus and I ex-perienced no further problems with feeding. The larvae grew slowlythrough the autumn and moulted several times, towards the endof October they went into hibernation. Each laiva settled upside-down on the underside of a piece of bark or other object, andmost had spun extensive silk pads to settle on. At this stage thelarvae were about 7mm long (Figure 2) and if disturbed would*Fourpenny Cottage, Dungates Lane, Buckland, Surrey, RH3 REARING PELOSIA OBTUSA 195 drop off and curl up in a manner typical of many arctiid might be expected I experienced the greatest mortality duringthe winter with seven deaths occuring during March. As far asI could judge about half the larvae died of fungal infection andthe remainder dried up with no trace of fungus, only three larvaesurvived to the spring. The larvae did not become active again until late April whenthey resumed feeding on the alga, little progress was made how-ever until the begining of June when they started feeding in earnestand a rapid increase in size resulted. (Figure 1) The larvae were ob-served to feed only at night but not at all in a regular manner. Whenexamined at all hours of darkness usually only one larva was feedingand the other two would be at rest. In the final moult the larvae change colour quite dramaticallyfrom a mid brownish grey to nearly black. The pattern and orna-mentation of all la
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