172 



THE ENTOMOLOGIST S RECORD. 



her dead. This I think must be an unusual case of longevity, for I 

 had had her alive for forty-one days, and she was probably some days 

 old when captured. During this time she must have laid nearly 500 

 eggs, for on November 16th I counted no fewer than 420 larvae, and 

 at this date many ova had not hatched. 



I will now quote from my journal : — 



November 18th. — Some larvae appear to be nearly full grown, and 

 one or two have spun leaves together and attached them to the side of 

 the pan, and look as if they were about to pupate. The larvae are now 

 contained in several large pans, half of which are out-of-doors in an 

 open shed facing north-east, and the other half indoors in a window 

 facing south, and in a room where there is frequently a fire. Some of 

 the larvae are hybernating under the leaves, but the greater number 

 have gone down among the stems and roots of their food — those 

 indoors occasionally crawl up, but they do not feed. They are of all 

 sizes, from tiny individuals not much larger than when first hatched, 

 to others apparently nearly full grown ; these latter have shrunk a 

 good deal since they ceased to feed, and a few have dropped off the 

 plants and are lying dead on the ground beneath, so it is doubtful if 

 I shall rear many of the butterflies. 



December 1st. — The food in the pan in the shed out-of-doors is 

 becoming covered with mildew, and many larvae have fallen off the 

 leaves and are lying dead, so I have brought all the pans indoors. 

 This shed is very damp and gets very little sun on it during the 

 winter months. 



January 14th, 1907. — It has been remarkably fine and mild for the 

 past ten days, and during the bright sunny weather many larvae 

 crawled up and basked in the sun upon the upper surface of the 

 leaves, but I do not think any of them attempted to feed. They are 

 still dying off notwithstanding the more favourable change in their 

 surroundings. 



February 1st. — A fine bright day after a sharp frost last night and 

 a spell of bitterly cold weather ; many larvae sunning themselves on 

 the upper surface of the leaves, and some of them seem to have fed a 

 little, but they are still dying off. 



February 16th. — A good deal of frost and snow since the first of 

 the month, but brighter and warmer to-day, and many larvae crawling 

 about and feeding. 



March 16th. — Variable weather since the 16th of last month, but 

 mostly mild for the time of the year. Observed that one larva had 

 attached itself for pupation to the top of the muslin hood. 



March 22nd. — The larva that fixed itself for pupation on 16th 

 inst. has become a pupa. Several other larvae are now full grown. 



March 27th. — Several larvae spinning up in moss, and one that 

 had attached itself to the side of the earthenware pan, just above the 

 earth, and had drawn a little moss over itself with silken threads, has 

 changed to a pupa. 



April 22nd. — Boxed a female, evidently just emerged, sitting on 

 some grass on a bank facing the sea. My larvae are now greatly reduced 

 in numbers, and most of those that are fullgrown are dying off. 



May 7th. — This morning, upon examining my breeding-pans, I 

 found a butterfly trying to emerge from its pupa-case, and as it seemed 

 to be in difficulties I released it, but after doing so the insect failed to 



