283 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



they were found feeding on the tea-tree, and no less than 

 twenty were purchased at one time by the late Mr. Argent, 

 at that time a dealer in insects at No. 32, Bishopsgate Street: 

 this variety has the head paler than is usual, and the three 

 thoracic segments ivory-while ; the following segments tinged 

 with olive; the dorsal spots whitish and rather rough to the 

 touch ; and the oblique stripes forming the V-shaped mark- 

 ings very dark olive or brown, without the violet lint ; these 

 Vs were in each instance accompanied by a smaller and re- 

 versed dorsal V, the two constituting a lozenge-shaped mark, 

 so that there were a series of seven dorsal lozenges more or 

 less complete : the constancy of these abnormal characters, 

 and the fact that all the examples possessing them were 

 found feeding on the tea-tree, induced me at first to suspect 

 that we had a second British species of Acherontia, more 

 especially as the variety had been described by Fuessly, 

 figured by Hubner, and three times described in the ' Zoolo- 

 gist' (Zool. 1658, 6282 and 6788); but the idea seems un- 

 tenable, as we have not two forms of the imago. A very 

 singular properly of this larva is noticed by Fuessly (Archiv. 

 8, 10), as subsequently quoted by Kirby and Spence, and has 

 since been recorded by several correspondents of the ' Zoolo- 

 gist:' it is the power of emitting a sound resembling tliat re- 

 sulting from a rapidly-continued series of electric sparks ; 

 how this sound is produced, or with what object it is emitted, 

 no one has been able to inform us. Ihe full-fed larva bur- 

 rows in the ground, and forms a compact cell, the earth com- 

 posing which is mixed with gum discharged from the mouth 

 of the larva, and kneaded into a kind ol' paste or mortar by 

 the same ingenious mason, who, walling himself up in this 

 manner, undergoes pupation in his sell-constructed prison. 

 The pupa is dark brown and glabrous; the head rounded ; the 

 eyes rather proujinent ; the cases of the maxilhe transversely 

 rugose, and anchylosed to the adjoining case ; ihe sides of 

 the abdomen transversely produced in front of each spiracle ; 

 the 13th segment terminating in a scabrous horn, directed 

 backwards and bifid at the tip. The pupa possesses the 

 same unusual faculty as the larva, the power of emitting a 

 distinct sound ; but this is rather like a sharp, short squeak, 

 repeated at intervals, than the crackling sound of electric 

 sparks. The perfect insect always appears on the wing twice 



