VARTHEXOGENETIG TENDENCY IN MELANOCEfiA MENIPPE. 271 



SO large as the individuals which have been fed on wattle 

 from the first. 



Of the seven specimens placed on the wattle at the time of 

 hatching* none have died. 



The experiment should be repeated, but the observations, 

 as far as they go, show the adaptability of the larva and the 

 ease with which the moth might become a wattle pest. 



In the following table is recorded the fate of the pupa? of 

 the wild specimens of maia and the bred specimens of 

 menippe. 



' Three individuals greatly deformed. ' One individual fully formed in pupa-case. 



' One individual deformed. * Four individuals fully formed in pupa-case. 



^ Fullj' formed in pupa-case. 



In comparing these two series it Avill be at once obvious 

 that the bred specimens had been shielded from the adverse 

 influences which proved fatal to a large percentage of the 

 wild specimens. 



Out of 128 wild pupa3 of maia fifty (39 per cent.) failed to 

 produce moths for one reason or another, while with the 

 twenty-five bredpupse of menippe only one individual failed. 



On opening the pup^e from which images did not emerge it 

 was noticed that generally the contents had mostly dried, 

 and it was clear that the development of the moth had not 

 proceeded to any considerable extent. The contents were, as 

 a rule, thoroughly impregnated with a fungus ; but it is not 

 known whether the fungus was the cause of the death of the 

 pupa, or whether it appeared later. Quite possibly the cause 

 of death was some bacterial disease. In any case in Natal 

 the pup8S of Saturniid moths die in great numbers in this way, 



