86 LIST OF LEPIDOPTERA. 



the following year; but in the case of Dictcea and Camelina, both Mr. Naish 

 and Mr. G. Harding, of Stapleton, and myself, found our May eggs produce 

 perfect insects in August. 



My friend Mr. Greene's remarks about his want of success in forcing the 

 pupae found in August, afford a strong additional argument in my favour. 

 He found pupae of N. dictcea and Camelina in August, and tried to force 

 them, but failed — and why? Because they were not the produce of eggs laid 

 in May, but at the end of June or in July, and were not intended to appear 

 till the following spring. My Camelina eggs were laid in May; I kept them 

 in confinement, it is true; they had but little air, I admit; exercise they did 

 not want, for the larva of Camelina is one of the most sluggish animals alive, 

 and will stick for hours without moving, with its head and tail up in the 

 air. I did not force them, but half-starved them instead, and yet the perfect 

 insects appeared in August, and were as fresh-coloured, and the females as 

 full of eggs as the spring brood. Mr. Naish had the same result with Dictcea, 

 or rather he was more successful, for his moths paired and laid eggs, from 

 which larvae were reared. My worthy friend, Mr. Greene, also says that he 

 has never dug up the pupa of Dictcea in July, but Mr. Gascoyne and myself 

 have both taken the larvae full-fed in that month. It is therefore quite clear 

 that it must turn to pupa somewhere, and if Mr. Greene will read the 

 description of Dictcea, in vol. iii. of "L'Histoire Naturelle des Chenilles," he 

 will find what may be a solution of the enigma. M. Duponchel there remarks 

 of this larva: — "We find it at two periods of the year — in June and at the 

 end of September. The first brood complete their transformation in a soft 

 yellowish grey cocoon between the leaves, and produce moths in July; the 

 second brood enter the earth in order to turn to pupa, and do not produce 

 the perfect insect till April or May of the following year." — "On la trouve a 

 deux epoques, en Juin a et la fin de Septembre; celles de la premiere generation 

 se metamorphosent dans une coque molle d'un grisjaunatre entre des feuilles, 

 et donnent leurs papillons en Juillet et Aout; celles de la seconde entrent 

 dans la terre pour se chrysalider, et n'arrivent a, l'etat parfait qu'en Avril 

 ou Mai de l'annee suivante." 



In opposition to the double-brooded theory, instances have been quoted of 

 the eggs of A. herbida producing the perfect insect in October and November; 

 and similarly those of A. caja. I have also myself bred Sm. Populi in 

 December, and have seen H. pisi bred in the same month; but these do not 

 appear to me to be at all cases in point. These insects did not pair, and 

 they appeared too late to do any good, if they had done so. Besides they 

 were mere isolated instances, whereas in the case of N. ziczac, Camelina, 

 and dictcea, the same result occurs year after year, and in all broods, and 

 in plenty of time for the larvae to be full-fed before the leaves fall. I once 

 bred some N. dictcea in October and November, from autumn larvae, but in 

 this case I had no doubt whatever that, like Mr. Doubleday's A. herbida, 

 they were premature specimens, and the $ 8 were to all appearance barren. 



I do not for a moment dispute what my friend, Mr. Greene, says with 

 regard to the same batch of pupae of Dictcea and Camelina producing moths 

 from May till July. In the case of Dictcea, Dictceoides, and Dromedarius, 



