208 THE entomologist's record. 



Xylophasia polyodon, Miana stngilis, Ttiphcena janthina, T. orbona, 

 T. pronuba, JVcefiia typica, Hadena oleracea, and other common species. 

 1 am looking forward to taking Cirrlmdia xerampelina the week after 

 next. — H. Shortridge Clarke, 2, Osborne Terrace, Douglas. August 

 \()th, 1 89 1. 



Notes on Breeding Agrotis lunigera. — On July 22nd, 1890, I 

 took some A. lunigera at Portland, and, finding that five of the $ 's 

 were too worn to set, I placed them in a bandbox with some honey 

 on a small piece of sponge, to try and get ova. I looked at them 

 every day but could not see any eggs, and, at the end of ten days 

 (three of the moths having died meanwhile), I let the survivors go, 

 and thought that the experiment was a failure, until, being about to 

 throw away the sponge used for the honey, I happened to notice some 

 ova therein, and on examining it carefully, was surprised to find that 

 the cells of the sponge were full of eggs which had e\idently been 

 deposited by the moths as far inside as they could reach, and as much 

 concealed as possible. There were no eggs on the outside of the 

 sponge. I had not placed any foodplant in the box, as, at the time, 

 I was not certain of what it consisted, and as the box was simply a 

 cardboard one with smooth sides, the sponge was the only place 

 affording concealment ; or were the eggs deposited in the sponge 

 because it was the only thing available in the nature of food ? 



The ova commenced to hatch out on August 3rd, and were fed on 

 dandelion leaves ; on this commencing to fail at the end of September, 

 I gave them slices of carrot, which they took to all right, and 

 continued this diet until the dandelion was again available in the 

 spring. The larv?e continued to feed from August right through the 

 winter up to the end of April, that is to say, some of them did, as 

 the slices of carrot were always eaten more or less even during the 

 severe weather of last winter. They were kept in two large flower-pots 

 under an open window facing the north, and led an entirely subter- 

 ranean life, the four inches of earth in the pols being honeycombed 

 by their burrows. I often looked at the pots after dark, but never saw 

 any larvae on the surface, except once when their food was short, and 

 a few were wandering about looking for more, when, on seeing my 

 light, they immediately retreated into their holes backwards. The 

 food, too, was invariably eaten from the bottom, never on the top or 

 edge, the slices of carrot being scooped out on the underside. On 

 several occasions I noticed a dandelion leaf sticking straight up in the 

 pot, having apparently been grasped in the centre and partially 

 dragged into the hole occupied by the larva, just as if it had been 

 bent and forcibly stuck into the ground. The full-fed larvns agreed 

 with the description given in Newman, except that they were decidedlv 

 ochreous in colour (was this due to the carrot diet ?), and that they had 

 the usual Noctua dark triangular mark on each segment. 



I stopped giving them food on April 30th, and, on looking at the 

 pots on May 25th, there were eight larvai on the surface, apparently 

 dried up, but on looking again on May 31st, these eight had evidently 

 just turned to pupse, which were cream coloured all over. They 

 gradually changed to a deep red colour, the red commencing at either 

 end and extending inwards, a white band round the centre of the 

 pupae remaining visible for some days — the last trace of white not 



