1S32.1 37 



sprays o£ Cerastium gJomeratum and vulgatum coTered ■witli leno, 

 whereon they were occasionally fed with a drop of sugar and water 

 which the male imbibed plentifully, the females less often, and one of 

 these soon left the leno and alighted on the Cerastium and sat there 

 with extended antennae and wings gently vibrating as though intending 

 to lay : the next day was dull and cloudy, and the two on the leno 

 only flew around whenever a chance ray of sun gleamed on them, but 

 late in the afternoon they made me hopeful of success when I saw 

 they had paired about half way down on the side of the pot, where 

 they remained five hours and a half together ; they were fed for five 

 more days and fresh Cerastium added, but in vain, as they died without 

 either female depositing even a single egg. 



As a forlorn hope I squeezed from the abdomen of the gravid and 

 dead female several eggs, and after a few days I fancied one of them 

 at least was changing colour, and in the afternoon of June 7th this 

 one really began to hatch, and while noting down its details, which 

 were well exposed to view, I could see the little larva making continual 

 efforts to free its hindmost segment from a part of the shell adhering 

 to the other eggs, but it was unable to extricate itself, and by next 

 morning had perished. 



With the return of May in 1881, I felt greatly encouraged to 

 persevere, on finding that my previous failure had by no means (Hmin- 

 ished, but perhaps increased, the kindly interest taken by Mr. Stainton 

 in elucidation of the early stages of this insect, and he lost no time 

 in giving me the result of his observations, both in literature and in 

 the field ; so that I soon learned what flowers were most visited by it — 

 for, as may well be supposed, some doubt of the food plant had na- 

 turally by this time occurred to me — and that Cerastium arvense was 

 the plant assigned to H. arhuti by Carl von Tischer, who communicated 

 this to Treitschke and afterwards to Freyer, as quoted by both, whom 

 Guenee appears to have followed ; I also learned that C. arvense does 

 not grow in the district where arhuti is found flying by Mr. Stainton, 

 but that C. vulgatum does, plentifully, of which be kindly sent me a 

 few plants for potting on the 21st, and on the next day as many as 

 twenty specimens of arhuti, all in lively condition. 



The moths were distributed in three pots of growing plants, 

 protected with glass cylinders and leno covers ; two of the pots con- 

 tained the C. vulgatum, and the third pot some different plants of the 

 Carijopliyllece, besides in each some tufts of Bellis ])erennis, whose 

 blossoms constantly attracted and helped to nourish them, as did also 



