122 THE entomologist's rkcokd. 



their rarity, as I found them eating both the eggs and pupje of H. 

 abruptaiia with great gusto. 



I must not omit to mention that on April 13th, 1897, I bred a 

 specimen which, to all appearance, was a female, but which had a 

 strongly pectinated male antenna on the left side. 



Some observations on Hemerophila abruptaria. 



By W. A. SOUTHEY. 



On May 22nd, 1896, I took a dark J in the garden of Mr. Pearce, 

 at St. James' Eoad, Holloway. This I paired with an ordinary J , 

 and in due course obtained a batch of eggs, from which larvae hatched 

 and fed up, about half producing imagines in August, 1896, including 

 one black specimen, the remainder going over until the spring of 1897 

 when five more dark examples emerged. 



As far as my experience goes the sexes do not pair so readily when 

 both are dark, and the batch of eggs is usually smaller in number. 

 The typical form of the male and female pair more than once. I have 

 found the same pair in cop. on three consecutive evenings, eggs being 

 laid each night; one female, which I kept for a week with a black male, 

 laid eggs, I believe, every night — 114 eggs being deposited altogethtsr. 

 These produced a strong healthy brood of larvae. The larvae from a 

 dark female are certainly always weaker than those from a typically 

 coloured specimen, some always dying about the first moult, otherwise 

 H. abruptaria is one of the easiest species to breed. 



In 1897, second-brooded specimens did not put in an appearance 

 until October 12th, a dark crippled ^ appearing on that date, the 

 last emerged about December 6th. I believe this second brood would 

 have gone over until next spring but for the very mild October which 

 we experienced, the remainder of my pupae, about two dozen, going 

 over. As far as my experience goes, there is always a partial second 

 brood in confinement, but some of the same brood will always remain 

 as pup^e until the next spring. 



In 1896, I paired some of the second brood (which emerged during 

 August), and obtained many eggs, which hatched during September. 

 I fed the larvee on privet during October, November and December. 

 They all fed up and pupated, with the exception of eight ; seven of these 

 were full-fed in December and attempted to pupate, but seemed too weak 

 to do so, for they gradually dried up. The one larva which had not 

 changed its last skin, hybernated and went through its last moult in 

 February, and fed up and spun its cocoon in March. The moth not 

 emerging in due course, I pulled the cocoon to pieces and found a 

 dried-up, half-changed larva. The larvas which did pupate during 

 December seemed very weak, some making no cocoon and taking about 

 three weeks to make the change ; they would hold on by their hind- 

 legs for some days after they had finished feeding and then fall to the 

 bottom of the cage turning to pupae upon the bare earth, and it 

 seemed very difficult for them to do even this. The parents of this third 

 brood were all typically coloured specimens, but I believe that some of 

 the dark forms that emerged in 1897, were from this lot (which 

 altogether numbered about 400), but I had about twenty eggs laid by 

 a black female and given to me by Mr. Pearce, the larvae from which 



