270 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



Climatic Experiment on Pup^e of Lepidoptera. — Some 

 time ago I forwarded the Rev. A. B. Watson, of Edinburgh, who 

 was about to sail for India, some pupae, with a request that he 

 would kindly furnish me with dates of emergence in latitudes 

 warmer than our own. Writing from the Stati' Lines, Karachi, 

 on the 15th of August, 1887, he saj's : — " I sailed from Liverpool 

 on the 36th February, 1887, and, until we got into the Mediter- 

 ranean, the weather was cold. Although the days there were 

 bright and sunny, we had nothing which could be called heat 

 until we entered the Suez Canal on the 14th March. There, at 

 mid-day, the temperature in the shade was 82°. On the 17th 

 March one Pieris rapce made its appearance, a second on the 

 19th, a third on the 20th, and the fourth on the 21st. On the 

 21st the first Pieris brassicce came out, another on the 22nd, and 

 a third on the 2ord ; on which day Phalera bucephala came out, 

 followed by two more on the 24th. On the 20th March the first 

 Euchelia jacobea emerged. On the 27th March I landed at 

 Bombay, and the next day I had a P. brassicce out, which I 

 turned loose to enjoy the sunshine of a warmer clime than its 

 own. On the 29th I found two E. jacobece in the box, and they 

 also got their liberty, with another which put in an appearance 

 on the 31st. On the 1st April I sailed from Bombay for 

 Karachi, which I reached on the 3rd. On the 5th April the fifth 

 P. brassiccB was out. On the 7th April both the pupae of Deilephila 

 euphorbia changed ; and the same day the sixth P. brassicce came 

 out, a cripple, and one E. jacobece, also a crij^ple. This is my 

 record. I think that I have been fairly successful. The greatest 

 disappointment is that Smerintlius ocellatus has failed altogether. 

 I looked at the three pupae the other day, and found them dried 

 up, not a particle of dust even inside them when they were 

 opened. The two D. euphorbice were fine specimens ; but, 

 unfortunately, when they were being dried on the boards, the 

 little red ants got at them and ate up the body of one. We have 

 had very little rain as yet, and the season has been most 

 unfavourable for Lepidoptera. I took three or four specimens of 

 a big Sphinx (almost the same as Acherontia atropos), and kept 

 them for a long time hoping for eggs, but without success. . I 

 took, the other day, two fairly good specimens of Deilephila 

 livornica, and I am in hopes of getting larvae of the Sphingidae 

 soon. On the 15th of last August one (my first) was brought, 



