OBSERVATIONS ON ACHERONTIA ATRUPOS 149 
emergence was November (1), June (6), July (1). Dr. Livett 
combined moisture with warmth, and induced imagines to 
emerge in December and three following months. Both methods 
were identical in one particular, that is the fires, before which 
the pup were placed during the day, were not kept up at night. 
I know well what tender subjects the pup of atropos are, but if 
it 1s permissible for me to form an opinion after a somewhat 
limited experience in their treatment, I would say that in a 
general way, if carefully protected from cold and left undisturbed, 
they will yield imagines in the early summer months, almost, or 
perhaps quite, as well as they would do if put through a course 
of *‘ forcing” during the winter. I shall have occasion, however, 
to qualify this opinion presently. 
That atropos is nomadic in its habits I see no reason to 
doubt. ‘The species has frequently been observed at sea, often at 
a considerable distance from land, and in situations where its 
presence could not be invoiuntary. ‘The occurrence of atropos in 
unusual places on land is not generally considered as evidence of 
the insect’s roaming disposition, but I think we can hardly look 
upon its appearance in such unlikely places as the busy thorough- 
fares of our largest cities in any other light. Then again, is it 
not probable that the specimens captured in the Orkneys, Shet- 
lands, and Isle of Man, were either visitors from the mainland 
or the issue of female atropos which had visited those isles in the 
summer months, seeing that the occurrence of the species in 
those places is an extremely rare event ? 
If it is a fact that atropos occurs every year in Kent or any 
other county on the east or south-east coasts, such counties may 
be considered as the nurseries of the species in Britain, and we 
may suppose that imagines occasionally or habitually forsake the 
place of their birth and roam about over the other portions of 
the country, often extending their rambles to the most distant 
parts of ourislands. In the course of their peregrinations vagrant 
female atropos may deposit ova here and there, and subsequently 
larvee and pupe be found in localities where the species is cer- 
tainly not of annual occurrence. 
On the other hand, it may be contended that, although atropos 
is rarely seen in certain localities, still we have no proof that the 
species is not present in those places each year, and therefore, in 
the absence of such proof, we ought not to assume that atropos 
