1S77.1 233 



forceps of the earwig, or the jaws and iVtid od;)ur of the supposed beetle ; but in the 

 absence of observation, I desire to speak doid^tfullj of the sharp eyes of a bird or 

 Ichneumon being deceived when engaged in its own special business by any such 

 colourable imitation. 



I should be glad if some naturalist, skilled in the application of the theory of 

 natural selection, M'ould suggest how the anomalous structure of the larva may have 

 been developed or retained, and also to know whether the larva of any other 

 Lepidopterous insect is known to possess similarly Jointed legs. The perfect 

 Stauropus fagi does not, so far as I know, differ in structure from ordinary 

 Lepidopterous forms, or show any traces of its strangely-constructed antecedent. — 

 Edwix BiRCHAiL, Douglas : January, 1877. 



Natural History of Catocala promissa. — On August 26th, 1875, Mr. J. Ross 

 of Bathampton, most kindly sent me thirty-nine eggs of this species, being the whole 

 produce from six imprisoned ? moths captured by him in the New Forest on 

 August 2nd, and with them the permission to select some for myself. 



The eggs had been laid from the 9th to the 16th of the month, some on oak 

 bark, the others extruded through the interstices of the leno covering of their cage 

 to which they adhered ; they were of two different colours, and I contented myself 

 with choosing three of each, and returning the remainder to Mr. Eoss, from whom 

 I afterwards heard they all proved sterile. 



The egg of promissa is of a good size, of a rather flattened spherical figure, a 

 little depressed in the upper centre and much more beneath, the shell covered with 

 coarse, projecting, sinuated ribs, varying from fourteen to eighteen in number, so 

 close together as almost to hide the surface between them, the depressed spot in the 

 centre of the top coarsely reticulated ; when fertile, it is of a dull drab colour, and 

 so contiimes through the winter, but, as I found, when sterile, it is dark brown, and 

 eventually shrivels up. 



About the middle of April, 1876, while looking at the three drab coloured eggs, 

 I fancied two of them seemed rather more plump than before, and a close examination 

 proved this to be the case, as a little of the smooth shell had become visible between 

 the rough ribs, and the upper central hollow nearly filled up ; this last, on tlie 18th, 

 was completely rounded over, and the ribs were turning paler ; on the 20th, they had 

 become w]iitibh,and the interstices greenish-drab colour; and on the morning of the 

 21st, I found one larva was hatched ; the dull, whitish, empty shell showed a large 

 hole in the side, through which the larva had escaped ; the next mpming I saw a 

 second had hatched. At this time, none of the oak-buds had burst, nor were many 

 mud', swollen, but I picked open two or three at a time of the best to be found, for 

 the young larva; to feed on — Mr. Eoss also, at this juncture, kindly supplying mo 

 with a few tender oak leaves which he had contrived to force out, — but, in placing 

 this food in the cage, I noticed one of the larva; when put on the leaves swing away 

 from them by a thread, and though I replaced it before shutting the cage, yet it 

 must have again swung out, for at that moment I unconsciou'sly lost it ; however, 

 next moraing (the 25th) I was somewhat consoled at seeing the third waa hatched, and 

 80 I again had two young larvse to watch. Curiously enough, neither of them seemed 

 to care then for the leaves, but chose the buds and those containing blossoms la 

 preference, feeding only after dark, and resting all day stretched out at full length. 



