NOTES ON COLLECTING, ETC. 107 



sheltered spots at the foot of banks, beside large boulders, or in crevices 

 of the rock. There is no ragwort where I have taken them, but I have 

 seen a few on this plant in other places. I fancy they feed on a variety 

 of low plants, but the larvae I have taken have always been at rest — 

 never feeding. Last season I bred seventy on chickweed without losing 

 one, and they had all gone down by the loth May ; those taken late in 

 April feeding up very rapidly. This year I am rearing a batch on 

 groundsel, and they are all doing well, some having already (14th April) 

 gone down. 



I take them when small, about nine lines in length, and being then of 

 a vivid green they are easily seen at night on the grass stems ; some 

 being stretched out flat, and others resting with the head and fore part 

 of body tucked inwards, and looking somewhat like a note of interroga- 

 tion (?). They are best searched for when small and green, as, later on, 

 they entirely change their habits, and no longer rest on the grass stems, 

 but remain concealed at the roots of low plants, and are then hard to 

 find. I have taken over 200 in the green stage, but have not found 

 more than half a dozen after they had assumed their mottled olive suit, 

 as described by " Newman." They fall off the grass at the slightest 

 touch, making it necessary to hold the lid of the larvse tin underneath 

 to catch them. 



Of the seventy I bred last year the first imago did not emerge until 

 nth September, and they continued to appear daily until i6th October, 

 with one late straggler on 27th October. The greatest number on one 

 day was seven, on 3rd October. I tried two couples, and found they 

 paired readily when placed in a roomy glass-topped box, with a saiall 

 quantity of honey. I placed them together on 23rd September, and by 

 the 26th the ?'s had each deposited some 200 ova on the loose paper 

 lining the sides and bottom of the boxes. The ova changed to green 

 on the 1 8th and hatched on 26th October, but on trying to bring the 

 larvse through the winter^keeping them in a warm room — I was not 

 successful, all dying off by 20th February. When about half grown the 

 larvse cease to be green, and for some three or four days after this 

 change of skin, after assuming their darker markings, they vary much 

 in colour. When full grown, however, I do not find any variation. — 

 E. W. Brown, Portland. April 14///, 1890. 



Notes on Dasycampa rubiginea. — I was very pleased with Mr. 

 Mason's article on rubiginea, with which insect I have had a little 

 experience, having taken it at ivy bloom, sugar, sallow and light, but 

 never in such numbers as he seems to have done, though I notice 

 that he took his 17 in '85, before I began to collect, which was in June 

 '86. However, I have taken about 24 since '87. In the spring of 

 ,88 I was lucky enough to get 7 at sallow and sugar, and 4 in '8g, 

 and succeeded in getting ova both years, though it is a very difficult 

 matter to induce the ? to deposit her eggs. I have kept the insect 

 alive for a month, by feeding it on honey mixed with a few drops of 

 sherry. I placed all those captured in the spring in a bandbox with 

 muslin cover ; inside I put twigs of apple, which I had scored with a 

 knife, as the ? seems to like a niche to deposit her eggs in, which she 

 lays singly. I don't know how many ? ? I had, as I could not dis- 

 tinguish the sex, but the first egg was laid on April 20th, a week after 

 capture of first insect. I may here remark that all my spring captures 



