124 i^^^y' 



note, and that Hodgkinson's collection, at his death, contained only a 

 solitary individual ot the si^ecies, which, from the style of pinning 

 and setting, looked as if it was certainly one of the specimens taken 

 by Stevens at Ventnor. 1 am aware that Hodgkinson, in his earlier 

 years, sometimes disposed of rare insects out of his collection, but 

 have uev.er heard of his distributing any lifforeJJa. 



Norrlen, Covfe Castle : 



Slnrch I3th, 1901. 



CURIOUS EXPERIENCE WITH LASTOCAMPA QUERCUS. 

 BY EDWARD ANDREWS. 



Dm-iiig a short stay in the New Forest Ifist year at the beginning of August, I 

 came npon a female specimen of L. quercits. It laid about one hundred eggs, whicli 

 hatched in the course of twelve dajs. Tlio young larva? flourished upon oak until 

 September 20th, growing very slowly, and eating at rather wide intervals, as is, 1 

 believe, their custom. As soon as oak began to fail, I obtained fresh shoots from a 

 broad-leaved sallow, which had burst int6 green again on account of its having been 

 partially hewn down. They devoured this with equal relish until as late as October 

 10th, when, other foliage having become scarce, I gave them common willow. Ey 

 now every one of them, witliout exception, had exceeded the stage at whicli L. 

 qnercih hibernates. Instead of refusing food, however, they began to cat with a 

 rapidity only to be equalled by the slowness with which they had taken their meals 

 in August and September. 



This, at first sight, may appear a little strange, cooler weather having set in, 

 darker days, and an atmosphere of general decay and damp enough to send any 

 larva to sleep. But from the very beginning 1 had kept them indoors ; had washed 

 their food with wet wadding, and changed it twice daily, with the result, I conclude, 

 that my larvae still imagined themselves in the middle of summer. They grew 

 steadily on willow until November 10th, when, this too failing, I gave them bramble. 

 Towards the end of the month their progress slackened considerably. Previous to 

 this they had occupied about sis days changing their skins ; now, however, the last 

 such transformation extended over a period of twelve days, three of which were 

 spent in "drying" from the effects of the cliange. I began to think that they 

 would fail, especially as bramble was fast becoming uneatable, and nothing witliin 

 my knowledge remained for them to feed upon. In my perplexity I wrote to the 

 Editors of this Magazine, who very kindly furnished me with a number of interest- 

 ing details, of which I had been quite ignorant. The result was that I watched 

 them with the greatest care, feeding them now upon ivy, whicli they devoured with 

 as much relish as though it were oak or common willow. 



On December ir)th,one larva made its cocoon, and from that date onward every 

 one of them, without exception, jiassed into the pupa state. On this point there 

 was some difference of time, the first having spun on December 15th, and the last 

 spinning as late as the first week in February. 



It is highly probable that the cold weatlier was the cause of their almost total 



