NOTES ON THE NOTODONTID.E. 37 



their food is ready at hand they will refuse to eat. As oak 

 leaves are hardly opening yet, this is another difficulty. The 

 moth does not always emerge the following spring, and then the 

 pupa is apt to die. So that N. chaonia is hardly likely to become 

 common. 



There is not a variety of chaonia as there is of trimacula. 



In looking for the larva it is well to note that it is generally 

 lying under a leaf, along the midrib, so tliat it is rather conspicuous. 

 Still I have always beaten three for one that I have found by 

 search. The same trees are found to produce this larva year 

 after year, — a remark which has been made of Cirrhoedia xeram- 

 •pelina and other rare insects. 



Notodonta trimacula, with its var. dodonea, is a species not so 

 confined to the South. It is found, for example, in Sherwood 

 Forest, Notts, the larvae nestling in the deep wrinkles of the bark 

 of its aged oaks during the day. The larva is more active than 

 that of chaonia. The spiracular line is yellow, interrupted with 

 pink as the larva approaches maturity. This moth appears 

 early in June, and is more easy to obtain ova from than its 

 congener; but for this purpose the parent moths should be 

 sleeved together on the growing oak, and the ova, which are pale 

 green, will be laid in bunches among the leaves, and will hatch 

 and produce their larvae in about twelve days, if the branch is 

 sufficiently shaded from the sun. The larva buries, to turn to a 

 smooth brown pupa, in a soft cocoon of silk and earth, preferring, 

 it is said, the angles of the roots, where the pupa is not un- 

 frequently dug in September and October. I have known this 

 moth to remain two years, and even three, in pupa. 



This moth deserves a long series to show its beauty and 

 variety. The female varies less than the male, and is less liable 

 to grease. 



The food of the larva is sometimes said to be birch as well as 

 oak ; but I have no knowledge of its feeding except on oak 

 [Quercus rohur). It is very desirable to have at least one oak of 

 a good size in your garden, to ensure sufficient shade in order to 

 rear the two species above described with any success. A stiff 

 loamy soil, of sufficient depth, is required, to produce green 

 succulent leaves in abundance, when eaten down year after year 

 by hungry larvae. During the late dry season I also syringed my 

 trees in the evenings with very good effect, especially against 

 honey dew. 



