CALLIMORPHA HERA IN SOUTH DEVON. 123 



When full-fed the larva spins a white semi-transparent web 



of threads strained very tight, looking much like an inverted 



tent, and in it, as in a cradle, changes, in from a week to ten 



days, to a reddish brown shining pupa, about three-fourths of an 



nch long. 



My first larva to pupate sucessfally was on May 18th, when 

 two turned. Another pupated on June 15th, but the remainder, 

 after spinning up, wasted away and died. Of those which 

 pupated on May 18th one died shortly after, and the other 

 emerged some time between the mornings of June 16th and 17th. 

 I was away from early morning till late at night on the 16th, on 

 a collecting expedition, and unfortunately did not look at my 

 pupffi till the morning of the 17th, and therefore am unable 

 to say whether the imago emerged during the day or night. 

 When I found it, it was banging about, and unhappily had slightly 

 chipped one of its wings. 



On the morning of July 5th I found that the remaining one, 

 which had pupated on June l£th, had emerged during the night 

 or early morning. It, too, was banging about, but had luckily 

 not injured itself. Both these specimens are typical, but in each 

 case the hind wings are slightly puckered, the right more than 

 the left. 



Mr. Benthall informs me that from the remainder of the 

 eggs referred to, providing in all about sixty larvae, exclusive of 

 the ten he gave to me, he succeeded in rearing seven, including 

 two of var. liitescens. I saw his larvae some time in April, when 

 they seemed in about the same stage as mine. He kept them 

 in a heated greenhouse, feeding on dandelion leaves, and, proba- 

 bly owing to the greater heat, those he bred had not the puckered 

 hind wings which mine had, and which seem usual in bred spe- 

 cimens, as noted by Mr. Eobinson (' Entom. Kecord,' iv. p. 243). 

 Mine were reared in my study, which was kept at the ordinary 

 temperature of a living room, and they were not near the fire. 

 After they pupated I sprinkled the webs occasionally with tepid 

 water. 



Mr. Benthall assures me that he found the larvae cannibals, 

 especially if kept short of food. I did not myself observe this, 

 but mine were constantly supplied with plenty of fresh leaves. 

 His experience, contrary to that of Mr. Eobinson [1. c), is that 

 the var. lutescens is much rarer than the typical scarlet form, 

 and though he has taken them of all shades of yellow, and 

 once, as he tells me, saw one of a milky white colour (which 

 unfortunately he failed to capture), he has not seen any orange 

 ones. 



Oxton, Exeter, Jan., 1894. 



Since writing the above I have submitted it to Mr. Benthall, 

 and his observations entirely agree with mine, with the following 



