246 THE entomologist's eecord. 



pass the winter in the egg state, i.e., TricJiiura crataegt, Lcucoma 

 salicis,'-' Clislocawpa neustria, etc. ; or else by deferring oviposition 

 till the spring, the plan adopted for the most part by the late 

 autumnal moths. These probably pair, according to circumstances, 

 early or late ; in the former case the male dying without hybernating, 

 in the latter both sexes hybernating. Here cold seems the agency 

 producing hybernation, though there is a connection with food supply, 

 as by its abundance the success of the hybernation is rendered more 

 probable. Those insects which supply themselves freely with food, 

 sucking the nectar of the ivy and other sweets (often greedily appro- 

 priated) will stand the best chance of survival, though it is cold that 

 induces the insect to seek shelter to preserve its vitality whilst its 

 life purpose is as yet unfulfilled, and to remain in that condition till the 

 time arrives when it can be accomplished. 



* Passes winter in larval state in Kent. — Ed. 



The Relationship of Endromis versicolor to the Sphingides. 



By A. BACOT. 

 (Concluded from p. 230^. 



I see from Mr. Tutt's paper, " An attempt to correlate the results 

 arrived at in recent papers on the classification of Lepidoptera." 

 {Trans. Ento. Soc. Land., 1895, part iii.), that E. versicolor is not quite 

 so orthodox in its manner of emergence as a respectable Obtecta 

 should be. Mr. Buckler, in his description of the pupa, remarks as 

 follows : " About a week or ten days before the time of emergence, 

 the cocoon is pushed by the enclosed pupa from a prone to a vertical 

 position, the upper end is ruptured, and the pupa protrudes its head 

 through the opening, and continues by degrees to advance until it is 

 exposed as far as the ends of the wing cases ; fixed in this position, it 

 remains quiet a longer or shorter time, till the insect is able to escape, 

 though in two or three instances the pupa has worked itself out 

 entirely free from the cocoon before the moth could be disclosed." 

 You will find that the dorsal area of the last few segments is thickly 

 studded with spines, which are no doubt used by the pupa in forcing 

 its way out of the cocoon. C. elpenor also has a ridge of spines on 

 the free and next following segments. These are, I believe, used by 

 the pupa? for a similar purpose to those of the above-mentioned 

 species. I had several larvte of C. elpenor last year ; they pupated in 

 a flower-pot filled with moss, and formed long and rather narrow 

 cocoons by spinning the moss stems together with a small amount of 

 silk. These cocoons were all vertical, or nearly so, and were from half- 

 an-inch to an inch longer than the pupa?, the top being usually left 

 open. In the spring I noticed that the pupte used to move up and 

 down in their cocoons. One in particular used to push itself half 

 way out on sunny days, going down again in cold and dull weather, 

 and it was half way out of its cocoon when the moth emerged. This 

 was, however, an isolated case, some moths emerging from puptr that 

 had their heads only protruding, while in other instances no move- 

 ment on the part of the pupa had apparently been made before 

 emergence. 



The above noted resemblance between the pupal habits of 



