1880.] 43 



myself made sure that six is the number for some, and nine for others as in the 

 instance of Nola centonalis ; but I never recorded so few as one, the allowance which 

 has been meted out to Sphinx ligustri* nor so many as ten or twelve, the number 

 with which Chelonia caja and Lithosia caniola have been respectively credited. 



Any one, who has made notes on which he can depend about the growth of any 

 species he has reai'ed, would I think do good service by publishing them, even if he 

 has nothing else to say about the larvae ; and those, who are just about to take fresh 

 broods in hand, would help to settle the question for each species, if they would 

 isolate examples of each brood, and accurately record the changes noticed. I know 

 this would be troublesome, but I do not see how otherwise we can get upon sure 

 ground in this matter : I should be glad to see records of the commonest things — 

 M. brassicce, S. lubricepeda, or M. fluctuata — so that they were accurate. 



Daily inspection will be needful, and the approach of a moult and its accomplish- 

 ment may at once be known by the appearance of the head of the larva ; before the 

 moult it seems too small and stretched forward from the neck — after the moult it 

 comes out in extra width as compared to the second segment, with its colours distinct. 

 —William Buckles, Emsworth : June 10th, 1880. 



Vanessa cardui double brooded. — Most entomologists have commented upon the 

 extraordinary appearance of V. cardui in 1879, advancing various theories as to 

 whether many of them did not migrate from the continent to this country. Con- 

 cerning this I do not wish to give an opinion ; I only know that the swarms that 

 began to appear in this neighbourhood about the middle of August were certainly 

 bred in the country, coming out as tbey did, without a sign of travel upon them, 

 during the few hot days which occurred at that season. And these, moreover, cor- 

 responded with the unusual numbers of larvae which were to be found upon the 

 thistles at the end of July. They were in far greater numbers than I ever remember 

 having noticed before. The larvae then found were feeding on the full-grown thistles, 

 nearly always high up the stem, and near the flowers. Soon after these had com- 

 pleted their changes, and had emerged as beautiful insects in the imago state, there 

 came some high winds off the sea, and withered the thistles, which, by that time, 

 had run to seed, and thus the chance of finding more larvae appeared to have passed 

 away. About the 1st of October, however, and for the next fortnight, I began to 

 find them again, but not in their former situation. These new larvae were on the 

 young seedling thistles which remain, without shooting up, flat upon the ground till 

 next season. On the back of the leaves, lying close to the surface of the ground, I 

 found several young larvae, some half-a-dozen of which I kept and fed up, and others 

 I gave away. I had some curiosity to ascertain when these unseasonable little 

 creatures would arrive at maturity, as the weather was then cold, and might at any 

 time have changed to frost. Between the 18th and the 20th of October, most of 

 them changed into the pupa state, and, on November 20th, one of them emerged aa 

 a perfect V. cardui, in every respect as fine as those hatched in August. The rest 

 failed to come to maturity. These facts, I think, seem to prove that in some cases 

 this insect was double-brooded last year : whether they are usually so I will not 

 venture to say ; but these late ones, from the time they appeared in the larva state, 



* N.B.— Albin records of a brood of Sphinx ligustri, which he reared from the egg, that they 

 moulted four times in their course. 



