PRACTICAL HINTS. 275 



mile. The moth sits fairly quietly on the sugar and, when not knocked 

 off by the ever-present Phlogophora meticnlosa, is easy to box. Among 

 my captures is one which, owing to the slightest possible malformation 

 of the right fore- wing, has developed into a good variety ; the orbicular 

 and reniform spots are united within one very clear circumscription, 

 and thus form a large asymmetrical blotch. On Sept. 25th, a very fine 

 Heliothis peltigera, and the following evening two equally good H. 

 armujern, Avere taken at sugar. On Sept. 27th I was fortunate enough 

 to take a perfect specimen of Leueania albipimcta at sugar ; it is of a 

 rather darker brown tint than usual. The emergence of this species 

 must be very protracted, for the earliest specimen was captured on 

 Sept. 4th, more than three weeks earlier than mine. — E. Tait, Jun,, 

 Manchester. Sept. 30th, 1894. 



Practical hints. 





On pairing moths in captivity. — In the summer I began to get 

 anxious about securing sufficient variety to keep up with the demands of 

 the Exchange Club, and wrote to a correspondent in Suffolk asking him 

 to get me some ova of Anticlea berberata. He replied thus: — "As I 

 had a fair supply of pupa3 of berberata, I have not found time to go for 

 more wild ones. Many bred couples paired ; several however did not 

 lay, and of the many eggs laid by the rest, I do not find any that will 

 hatch, all seem to shrivel up." He kindly beat some larvae and sent to 

 me, and I reared a fair number of imagines. I then paired several 

 couples, isolated the females, and participated in his exjDcrience, for they 

 either did not lay or else laid infertile eggs. Partly in disgust, partly 

 in despair, I left three jiairs together for three consecutive nights. The 

 first night all three paired, the second night some paired, and the third 

 night a similar thing occurred. The glass-topped " tie " box in which 

 I had them was now pretty well sprinkled with eggs, and after the first 

 night the sprig of the food plant was also favoured ; in due course 

 plenty of larvte a^jpeared. I had just been thwarted by two females of 

 PJiorodexma smaragdaria in a similar way, and was feeling very keenly 

 that one scarcely knew how to treat such shy layers. One had laid 12 

 eggs of which three hatched, the other laid none, and I must say that 

 my experience with A. berberata rather opened my eyes. Do not we 

 entomologists who try to breed fine specimens or varieties often waste 

 s})ecimens unsuccessfully by not going quite far enough ? May it not be, 

 that, at least in captivity, the vitalit}' of the males is so much impaired 

 that they are not able to fertilise more than a small number of ova ? 

 Are we sure that even in nature one pairing is sufficient, and that 

 lepidoptera do not pair again and again ? When anxious for eggs I 

 shall in future not be in such a hurry to separate the parents but leave 

 them together until they die. There is another curious point about 

 this subject, viz., if the females mate a second or third time, there must 

 be some sort of attractive force left in them, and it seems possible that 

 we might perhaps use females which we know to have paired as lures 

 for wild males. I would not of course suggest that all species are alike ; 

 proljably many vigorous forms pair once and for all, but when we are 

 dealing with "in-bred" races, 1 think a little investigation might ])ay. 

 (Rev.) C. R. N. BuKKOWs, Rainham Vicarage. October ot/i, 1894. 



