228 [October, 



gave it the best sallow we could find, and daily sprinkled water on 

 the leaves, and it drank and ate regularly at twilight. In the mean- 

 time the muddy tint accompanying hibernation departed, and the old 

 fresh green tint came back. Towards the end of April, considering 

 that there was no object in subjecting it to cold nights and wet 

 weather any longer, we took the pot indoors and placed it before an 

 airy window. As the spring advanced meals grew more frequent, and 

 when May came in it fed sometimes in the morning, sometimes in the 

 afternoon, always at twilight, and sometimes about midnight. 



On May 13th it moulted, after having sat for nearly four days. 

 The horns in this stage were glaucous, tinged with blue. The fourth 

 and last moult did not take place until June 3rd, a prolonged cool, grey 

 period in May having considerably delayed its progress. It was very 

 susceptible to warmth. On cold days it took but one meal in the 

 twenty-four hours— at twilight ; on ordinary days some two or three ; 

 on hot days it ate in the morning, afternoon, evening, midnight, and 

 before dawn. Throughout this period it seemed ever ready for a 

 drink, and we allowed it to imbibe moisture once a day. 



On June 22nd it was full grown, and had changed from a bright 

 grass-green to a milky-whitish tint. Fixing itself on the under-side 

 of a leaf it clung there — without suspending itself — until June 24th, 

 when it changed to a pupa. We were not fortunate enough to 

 witness the act of transformation. 



The forming of the perfect insect in the beautiful shell of the 

 pupa was not observable until up to the very last momeni, when 

 it seemed to develop in the space of a day and a half. On July 9th 

 we suddenly saw the colour markings through the wing-cases, and on 

 July 10th it emerged, a moderate sized ? without any striking 

 characteristics. 



Thus ended a very pleasant experience with a fine and not too 

 common species. The peculiar circumstances attending oviposition 

 evidently had no eifect on the constitution of the larva, for with the 

 exception of the time in January, when it looked rather shrivelled, we 

 could find no evidence of any suggestion of weakness. Each moult 

 was vigorous and quick, and pupation equally so. We may possibly 

 have taken too much trouble ; but we did not know for certain that 

 this species is particularly robust, and we considered a forced birth a 

 doubtful way of coming into the world. Whatever the real state of 

 affairs, it is quite certain that we succeeded. 



41, St. German's Road, Forest Hill : 

 July 20th, 1906. 



