10 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 
small, the larve very likely having been forced too much. The 
result of the rearings of Atlas in France, which I do not know yet, 
will be stated in the ‘ Bulletins de la Société d’Acclimatation de 
Paris.’ I had Atlas cocoons of two different races; the ova were 
obtained from the smaller race, which, I was told, came from 
Bangalore. Early in 1877, I had obtained a few cocoons of a 
giant race of Atlas, which, with similar cocoons I brought from 
Paris (empty cocoons), happen to be a race from the Himalaya 
Mountains. These cocoons did not produce a single moth in the 
summer of 1877, and some of the pupe died. But this last 
summer, in July, I obtained a few moths far more brilliant in 
colour than the moths obtained from the other cocoons. ‘I'wo 
specimens, male and female, are now exhibited, and may be seen 
in the Insectorium at the Royal Westminster Aquarium, London. 
The female of this giant race is nearly eleven inches wide from 
tip to tip of the wings, and is of extreme beauty. 
Actias Selene (from India).—This year I succeeded in 
obtaining four pairs of this magnificent species from cocoons sent 
from India, June Ist, June 2lst, July 4th, and July Sth. I 
obtained over twelve hundred fertile ova; the first female laid three 
hundred and fifty ova; the second, two hundred and ninety-six; 
the third and fourth, about three hundred each. So far as I am 
aware, the larva of Actias Selene was unknown in Europe till I 
introduced it this year. It has been bred this year in England, 
France, and Germany. From reports sent by different corre- 
spondents I heard that many of the larve had died in the last 
stage. The larve which I bred on walnut branches until I left 
London did remarkably well under one of my large bell-glasses 
till they were nearly full-grown, none haying died, when I 
had to entrust a friend with the rearing of them. Unfortu- 
nately, with twenty-four larve, he could only obtain two 
cocoons, which produced two small male moths in September. 
Actias Selene feeds very well on walnut, and also on willow 
and cherry. ‘This species is essentially a “‘ polyvoltine race,” 
as we say in French, or “many-brooded.” The moths began 
to emerge on the 28th February, and continued to do so till 
the 8th July, when all the moths had ceased to emerge from 
the cocoons {thirty-eight in number). This long lapse of time 
from the appearance of the first moth, on the 28th February, till 
the appearance of the last two on the 8th July, shows the great 
