4 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



are attached to the under side of the first abdominal segment 

 by a short stalk, and when not in nse are tucked in a longi- 

 tudinal skinfold or pocket on each side of the abdomen 

 beneath the inferior wings (not the superior wings, as stated 

 in Mr. Johnson's communication), and they have, I believe, 

 no connexion with the respiratory organs. In appearance 

 they resemble a lady's fan when closed, and are composed of 

 a number of very fine setae united at their bases. The moth 

 has the power of darting them out rapidly, and at the same 

 time spreading them out like a hollow disk. On picking one 

 out of its sheath with the point of a needle it emits a very 

 perceptible odour, which varies according to the species, that 

 of X. polyodon being rather like peppermint, and in Leu- 

 cania pallens it is like the smell of bruised laurel-leaves. 

 Probably it is for the purpose of giving out a small quantity 

 of this odour at a time that the insect is furnished with these 

 curious appendages, which are absent in the female of all the 

 species I have examined. As these organs do not seem to 

 be developed in every species of Lepidoptera, their presence 

 or absence may possibly be worth noting in determining the 

 relationship of species. A. Atropos is not the only Lepi- 

 dopteron I have observed to produce sounds : I had some 

 pupae of Thecla Quercus last summer which made a noise 

 similar to that of the imago of A. Atropos, but proportion- 

 ately weaker. — Williani H. Taylor ; Burlington Street, 

 Sunny Bank, Leeds, November 20, 1865, in the ^ Field'' 

 Newspaper. 



The mode in which Acherontia Atropos makes its Noise. — 

 Seeing a notice of the squeaking of Atropos (Entom. ii. 325), 

 I think it may be as well to state a diffei'ent theory about the 

 squeaking to that given. On killing one a short time ago, 

 the pen in which I had the oxalic acid struck against what 

 seemed to me to be a very strong muscle, and on moving it 

 up and down I produced a sound exactly similar to the 

 squeak, so much so that I called the attention of those who 

 were in the room to the fact, and all agreed with me as to 

 the resemblance between the two sounds. I had always 

 believed the soiuid to be caused by some such means as the 

 one above mentioned, and I am greatly surprised to find a 

 different theory broached. — [Rev.^ T. A. Preston ; The Col- 

 lege, Marlborough, November 7, 1865. 



