THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 7 



two on purpose. The result is this : — In the first case the 

 imago, a male, remained with its wings unexpanded for half 

 an hour. In the second case the imago, a female, was 

 released from the pupa in the middle of the day of Novem- 

 ber 9th : the wings did not expand till the morning of the 

 13th : it was then as fine and perfect an insect as I ever saw. 

 In another instance I had a pupa of Petasia cassinea. It was 

 so long in emerging that I thought it had dried up. I 

 removed the case, when it just moved, and, turning on its 

 back, seemed to all appearance dead. In about two hours it 

 had become a perfect male imago. Now this time is strange, 

 for I always thought that exposure to air after a short time 

 prevented the expansion of the wings. — \_Rev.'\ E. Hallett 

 Todd. 



Economy of Orgyia gonostigma. — I wish to place upon 

 record a few particulars in the history of this insect, by way 

 of supplement to Mr. Newman's graphic description of the 

 larva (Zool. 8696). I am not fully acquainted with its 

 geographical range in this country, but it appears to be con- 

 fined to a few spots, owing to the sedentary habit of the 

 female. Indeed it is a wonder how O. antiqua got itself so 

 universally distributed, though this may be partly explained 

 by the activity of the larva, which uses its " locomotives " 

 with great agility. O. gonostigma is, however, decidedly 

 sluggish. To my knowledge it only occurs in one locality 

 about London, this being a hollow of small extent, but 

 thickly covered with underwood. Here this species was once 

 found profusely, and though visitors with entomological 

 intents are now frequent it is still tolerably plentiful. Begin- 

 ning at the egg, the first circumstance noteworthy is the 

 number that are deposited, especially as compared with 

 those laid by its near ally, O. antiqua. This latter rarely 

 lays more than 150 (I have noticed that the ovary is very 

 often not nearly emptied), while O. gonostigma deposits 

 about 500 eggs. These the female covers with the velvety 

 pile with which her abdomen is clothed. This is remark- 

 able, since the eggs in this country need no protection, being 

 hatched very speedily ; but on the Continent, where the 

 insect is double-brooded, I am informed that it passes the 

 winter in the egg state. The favourite food-plant of the 

 larva seems to be oak, but it is also found upon the hazel 



