276 [December, 



I carufuUj turned over leaves and hunted about I could find nothing, and I did not 

 at that stage care to disturb tlie surroundings too much. No fagi came up, and I 

 am satisfied that the noises were due to the movements of the imprisoned imagines. 

 I found them when I turned out the boxes after tlie emergence had ceased ; the 

 cocoons were distinctly lighter in weight than those of the live pupae, but slightly 

 heavier than the empty cases. The weight is the clue to the state of the cocoon, as 

 the hole by which the moth emerged can rarely be found, the fibre of the cocoon 

 appearing to close over it. These failures had entirely emerged from the chrysalis, 

 and laid with their heads against the cocoon, forming prolongations of the chrysalis ; 

 none had made any sideway movement, but they had evidently struggled, as in every 

 case the thorax and the wings, which were well developed, were perfectly bald. 

 Why they failed to break through I cannot say, nor can I lay claim to having even 

 a theory on the subject. The females from which the eggs were obtained were of 

 both grey and black varieties taken on May 19th ; the grey and black broods were 

 kept separate, some of each being fed on copper-beech and some on oak. Apple was 

 tried, but none of them would touch it. 



As a whole I am certain that the larvae from the black moths were darker than 

 those from the grey upon the same food-plant, though many from the grey were very 

 dark, darker than some of those from the black, still, generally the black broods 

 were darker, and the darkest individual larvoe were without doubt in the black broods 

 on the copper-beech. I regret much that pressure of other work prevented me from 

 giving the time necessary to look after the broods, so as to be certain that in the 

 various changes of sleeves they did not get a little mixed, but I was fairly careful, 

 and am of the opinion tliat the black emergences were all from the black females, 

 many of those from the grey were dark, but none genuinely black. I noted, how- 

 ever, that, with two exceptions (both males), all my bred grey moths are without 

 the reddish tinge which shows on the inner margin of the fore-wings of the wild 

 specimens. Whether this is a distinction of the second brood, and whether those 

 which stand over to the spring will be reddish, I cannot say, though I expect so — 

 it was most certainly present in the parents. As to the relative rareness of the grey 

 and black in nature, my experience from working the beech woods round Eeading 

 is, that one pure black to twenty-five grey is about the proportion, which means 

 that a collector may get one in about two or three years ; I myself had not seen one 

 for three years till this spring. 



To return to the females and their eggs after this long digression. Captured 

 on May 19th and put into large boxes, the females at once proceeded to lay, and on 

 May 21st two larva? of the grey hatched out, to be followed the next day by the 

 black. They continued coming out daily, or sometimes witli an interval of a day, 

 till June 11th, when my last entry is " three black." As soon as hatched they were 

 carefully transferred with a soft brush to largo muslin sleeves on copper-boech or 

 oak ; here they continued to feed, merely being changed as required, and as little 

 handled as possible, especially when small. 



When nearly full fed they were transferred to pots 9" to 12" ; the pots were 

 half filled with moist earth, and a bottle containing water sunk in the centre, into 

 which the food-plant was stuck, the remainder of the pot was filled with dead 

 leaves, four sticks were stuck at the sides of the pots and muslin thrown over the 

 top and tied round ; afterwards I improved upon this by taking a one dozen brandy 



