132 LIST OF LKPIDOPTERA. 



beaten the larva into a sheet and umbrella in Kent and Herts., from the 

 1st. to the middle of July ; they varied from half-fed to full-grown. In 1856 

 I took two perfect insects when staying in Hampshire, with my friend Mr. 

 Hawker, a g May 6th., and a $ May 8th. Mr. H. took a crippled g 

 April 29th. They were all resting on the trunks of oak. My $ laid a 

 number of eggs on the evening of her capture: they hatched May 26th., 

 and were full-fed July 12th. The pupa? (kept in the house) began to emerge 

 March 29th., 1857, and continued doing so till May 1st. Four couples of 

 moths paired in the cage; the females laid a great number of eggs. The first 

 batch laid April 23rd., began to hatch May 11th., and the others took 

 about the same time. I was most unfortunate with them — out of each lot 

 more than half perished when on the point of hatching. Those larva? which 

 came out never appeared healthy, and gradually one after another sickened 

 and died: I only succeeded in obtaining one pupa from the whole lot. I 

 sent a great many eggs away to various friends, but they were nearly all as 

 unlucky as myself: I am quite at a loss to account for the reason. When 

 full-fed and ready to bury, the larva) assume a dirty purplish hue. It is, in my 

 opinion, one of the most beautiful of our British larva?. I have seen both 

 P. nubeculosa and JE. versicolora full-fed, but do not think them fit to rival 

 trepida. The egg resembles that of P.palpina, but is of course larger. I 

 know of no moth which is so dwarfed by being reared in confinement. (C.) 



64. N. chaonia. — Scarce. This insect seems to be rare everywhere. I have 

 only once met with the larva: it is much larger than that of dodoncea, 

 glossy, fat, whitish green, with a row of yellow spots on each side above 

 the legs, and two yellow lines down the back. It resembles a good deal 

 that of dictcea. Mr. Stainton, in the "Manual," gives July as the time for 

 finding it. I should say this was too late, as I took the specimen alluded 

 to above, quite full-fed, in fact it went down the same day, the second week 

 in June. I have occasionally dug up the pupa mixed with that of dodoncea 

 in the proportion of about one in thirty, but it goes down much earlier. 

 It (the pupa) is somewhat shorter, stouter, and more glossy than that of 

 dodoncea. I once had a pair couple; the female laid a great number of eggs 

 all over the breeding-cage, but I was unfortunately from home, and they 

 all perished. The egg is large, and if I remember rightly, pure white. The 

 male is a furious and distracted flier, and speedily spoils itself. As far as 

 my experience goes, the larva feeds exclusively on oak, and, like nearly all 

 the species in this genus, the parent seems to prefer detached trees, whereon 

 to lay her eggs. 



N.B. — I had two specimens last year from larva? found on oak, the first 

 appeared April 21st., $ the second g May 16th. I found a single larva 

 on oak, full-fed, June 7th., 1857. I bred a ? this year, April 27th. (B.) 



I have beaten two or three of this larva every summer since 1852. I 

 never, with one exception, saw it before the 1st. of July, nor after the 15th., 

 but have taken it of all sizes between these two periods. The exception I 

 allude to is mentioned by Mr. Bree; he and I beat a full-grown larva last 

 summer, June 7th. Till nearly half-fed this larva and that of N. dodoncea 

 closely resemble one another. Both have the yellow dorsal stripes, and 



