8 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



and sparingly upon birch. In spring, when other food is 

 scarce, it nibbles at the young buds of hawthorn and sallow. 

 When the sun shines it is more readily found, feeding or 

 basking upon the external twigs ; but in damp weather it re- 

 tires to the denser portions of the mixed underwood. In con- 

 finement, during the winter months, some larvae enclose them- 

 selves in a slight web, or hide within a curled and withered 

 leaf; others extend themselves rigidly, making no attempt 

 at any covering. The habits of tlie male do not give the 

 moth that right to its English name which O. aniiqua cer- 

 tainly has. The flight of O. gonostigma is not a " vapouring," 

 but a strong, sharp sweep, though of short duration, the insect 

 coming suddenly to rest in the manner of Bombyces, with its 

 fore legs extended, and then suddenly whirring off again. 

 This can only be seen when the sun is bright, for which, like 

 the larva, the male has a preference ; on dull days it will 

 continue entirely motionless, unmoved even by the proximity 

 of the female. On a fine day, however, the process called 

 " sembling" is efficacious for its capture. This season being 

 a forward one, my brother determined to attempt an experi- 

 ment made once by Mr. Machin, viz., the forcing of an 

 autumn brood of this insect, and succeeded to admiration ; 

 for while those brought through by Mr. Machin were dimi- 

 nutive, his were of the natural size. The eggs taken for this 

 purpose were laid on the 18th of June, and the young brood 

 emerged on the 6th of Jul3\ They were well supplied with 

 oak, and kept under cover, though not in a very warm place. 

 These passed through the usual ecdyses (six ?), and began to 

 spin up on the 20th of August, the imagos appearing through 

 September, and even up to the end of October, some larvae 

 growing much more rapidly than others. A small portion of 

 the brood (about thirty) did not feed up sufficiently fast, and 

 are now hybernating. Some females, impregnated in cap- 

 tivity j deposited eggs, from which young larvae appeared the 

 first week in October. Thinking that perhaps at this remark- 

 able season the larvae at large might have done the same as 

 those in captivity, I used the beating-net in their locality 

 about the end of September, but found only half-grown 

 larvae, evidently about to hybernate. — John R. S. Clifford ; 

 21, Robert Terrace, Chelsea, November '2, 1865. 



Orgyia yonofiiigma bred. — Through the kindness of a 



