(;ENERAI. XOTKS on PHRAaMATOBIA FULIGINOSA. 223 



but as this gentleman answered my letter of inquiry too late to be of 

 service, the letter not arriving till long after my return, I went on 

 my way like a veritable Robinson Crusoe. Actually I have gathered 

 together a fair amount of useful information which I shall be only too 

 willing to dispose of to future explorers. 



General Notes on the Larval and Imaginal habits of 

 Phragmatobia fuliginosa \ 



By A. W. BACOT, F.E.S. 



The larvie described in my previous paper (fl»^'(>,pp. 176 t'^sr*/.), num- 

 bering some 400 or 500, were very healthy and fed up with great rapi- 

 dity. They were kept indoors, at tirst in a glass jar, afterwards in an 8" 

 riower-pot, and were finally transferred to a large box measuring about 

 1' 6" X 1' 6" X 2' 0" with gauze stretched across the top. Their food was 

 chiefly broad-leaved plantain, but dock and various species of Sali.c were 

 given as well. In habits, the larv* are typical Spilosomas behaving 

 almost exactly as do those of Sj)ilom)iia menthastri, S. htbricipeda, S. 

 iirticae and N. iiionlira, that I have previously reared, resting and feeding 

 beneath leaves if possible, dropping on the slightest jar or disturbance, 

 but not so readily if moulting, rolling up into a compact ring, then, 

 after a brief mterval, starting off to crawl with great suddenness and 

 extreme rapidity, the stops l)eing equally as sudden as the starts, and 

 both being exceedingly erratic. In moulting, the larva selects as firm 

 and well-hidden a resting-place as possible, and, if undisturbed, remains 

 quiescent for the whole period, but, if disturbed, they show themselves by 

 no means inactive, so far as my observation goes ; little, if any, silk is 

 used, and disturbance seems to have no ill effects whatever ; this, as 

 with the ground-feeding Noetnids, is probably a special adaptation to 

 meet the liability of disturbance at this period, which is probably much 

 more frequent in ground-feeders than in species having arboreal habits. 

 I am uncertain as to the exact number of moults but I believe it to be 

 either five or six, possibly it is variable, certainly a variable habit would 

 fit in better with my observations than a fixed one. In the adult skin, 

 the larvfe are dimorphic, ranging from very bright pale brown to 

 almost black. I segregated half-a-dozen of each extreme, but 

 found that the difference was certainly not sexual, as ^ s and $s 

 emerged from both batches. In the first brood the larvae kept well 

 together as regards growth, there being no individual lagging or racing, 

 but there was nothing like so much uniformity with the larvse of the 

 second brood. 



Pupation. — As the brood was so large I made special provision for 

 the larvjp to spin up by pinning a number of paper ledges round the 

 sides of the box to prevent overcrowding at any one point, a some- 

 what disastrous experience with Malaco^otna castrmsissi few years since 

 having taught me that cocoon-spinning larva" will take advantage of 

 each others cocoons, to economise silk, forming dense masses of 



* These notes must not be taken as being in any sense final. They are more 

 or less of a loose and scrappy nature, for I was too busy feeding this and other 

 races of larvs during the month of -Tune to allow of the close and detailed attention 

 that is necessary for a full and and exact account of iheir life-history even in eon- 

 linement. Publication,, however, of the notes may lead to further observations by 

 other lepidopterists. 



