NOTES ON ABRAXAS GROSSULARIATA AND HOW TO REAR IT. 323 



any more lacticolor that I sent a few larvfe of two diflferent pairings to 

 three of my friends, two of whom, the Rev. C. 0. Hatton and Mr. 

 F. J. Hanbary, each bred one lacticolor, but Mr. A. W. Mera had no 

 such luck. I myself bred rather over a score, and obtained eight 

 pairings (of $ lacticolor) with eight males as diverse as I could select. 

 Before proceeding farther with my story, I may remark that these 

 1901 lacticolor (which resemble one another very closely) are extremely 

 fine and handsome insects, being nearly twice the size of their grand- 

 mother, and having the two yellow transverse bands on the forewings 

 excessively broad and of a deep coppery-orange shade instead of the pale 

 yellow of their 1899 maternal progenitor. This excellent size and 

 colour is no doubt due to their being fed on gooseberry, and plenty of 

 it. I have never seen such handsome (/rossidariata anywhere else, and, 

 as I think a great deal of them, I have so far only parted with a single 

 specimen. Reverting to my main subject, I have to make the mar- 

 vellous statement that among the progeny (of these eight 1901 

 pairings), which consisted of 40 specimens born between Septem- 

 ber 20th and December 25th, 1901, and many hundreds born in the 

 summer of this coronation year, not a single lacticolor has appeared ! 

 However, nothing daunted, but true to my family motto of " Nee 

 mora, nee requies," I went in for (jrossulariata more strongly than 

 ever this summer, as may be proved by the fact that I biought about 

 no fewer than 74 distinct pairings, in a considerable number of which 

 specimens of creamy origin were concerned, whilst stock from Bude, 

 Durham, Hazeleigh, Lancashire, and Nottingham had to do with other 

 combinations. Of these 74 pairings, Nos. 8, 14, 28, 49, 50, and G7 

 proved infertile, although I saw all the insects coupled and all the 

 females (except one which laid a single egg) oviposited freely. I have 

 now, October 27th, something like 50 pupre from pairings of Nos. 1, 

 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, and many full-grown or large larvas belonging to 

 these and other pairings up to about the 20th. As gooseberry and. 

 currant (both red and black) are no longer obtainable, I am now feeding 

 my larvas on FAiomjtnm japonica, which they do not like nearly so well. 

 However, they will get nothing else this year. The larger ones will 

 have to pupate on it, and the smaller ones will nibble it a little till they 

 gradually go to sleep early in November. I find that they awake 

 pretty regularly again about the beginning of March, when I supply 

 them with Kiionijrints until the gooseberry comes into leaf. They are 

 extremely fond of the tender gooseberry leaves when first expanded, 

 but the prickly stems of this pabulum make it somewhat unpleasant 

 to handle, and 1 feed my larv* almost entirely on red currant as soon 

 as the leaves of this Ribcs are fully expanded. Black currant also pro- 

 duces very fine imagines, but I am unfortunately not able to get a 

 supply anything like sufficient for the many thousands of larvfe which 

 I now aspire to rear. 



This autumn I have bred five imagines at present, the first of which 

 appeared on October 13th, the second on the IGth, the third on the 

 18th, and two yesterday (26th). The first four are from No. 1 pairing, 

 the fifth specimen from pairing No. 9, all of "creamy" origin, but 

 none in any way resembling lacticolor. They are chiefly black, striated 

 with white, and generally have a fulvous blotch at the apex of the 

 f orewing. In summer the duration of the pupal stage is very regular, 

 and may be put at three weeks, but, in autumn, 1 find it lasts a week 



