THE ENTOMOLOGIST. J 53 



half a dozen juvenile larvae of this insect, and being from a 

 normal brood tliey of coarse hybernated, and in the spring of 

 the present year produced four iniagos, three males and one 

 female : from these I obtained a batch of between four and 

 five hundred fertile eggs : I determined to try, by a genial 

 temperature and luxuriant food, also to obtain two broods. 

 I had previously procured young oaks about a foot high, and 

 planted them in large flower-pots: I cut the cocoon on which 

 the eggs were deposited into pieces, and distributed them 

 among the foliage, and as soon as the eggs changed colour I 

 tied very fine gauze over the whole : in a day or two I found 

 the oulside covered wiih hundreds ol' minute larvae; they 

 had pushed through the fine meshes of the gauze. I care- 

 fully collected and returned them to the oak, but doubtless 

 many escaped. On counting them over at a later date, when 

 increased in size and requiring fresh food, I found upwards 

 of two hundred and fifty remained. What I more particularly 

 wish to report is that these larva3, which in a normal state 

 w^ould now be in their hybernating costume, threw it off about 

 the middle of August, and are at this time in full summer 

 dress, having the anterior and posterior pencils of capitate 

 hairs and the four dorsal tufts ; under ordinary circumstances 

 these appendages would not have appeared until next spring. 

 The larvae are now passing the third and last moult, and I 

 fully expect (unless Nature performs some unforeseen freak 

 in reltn-n for having been interfered with) that the trans- 

 formation to pupae will take place at the close of the present 

 month, and that the second brood of imagos will appear 

 about the middle of October. I shall in due time report the 

 result. — George Gascoyne ; Newark, September 10, 1866. 



Economy of Hoporiita croceago. — On the 11th of Novem- 

 ber, 1864, I happened to take an oak-branch, covered with 

 dry leaves, from a hedge, and to my astonishment two speci- 

 mens of this insect crawled out from beneath the leaves. 

 Having a couple of boxes in my pocket, I quickly secured 

 them : they were taken home and put into a cage in an out- 

 house, with a portion of the resting-place they had chosen. 

 Being anxious to know as much of their habits as possible, 

 I visited them nearly every evening, and with great satis- 

 faction. They were supplied with sugar in a sponge, but 

 although they generally came out from their hiding-place on 



