THE EMERGENCE OF CONCHYLIS GIGANTANA (ALTERNANA). 297 
wings has dark shading to such an extent that the whole appears to be 
almost black. This form is described in Seitz as var. éetrica, Friths. 
S. anthe.—This fine Russian species was not by any means 
common ; it frequented the tops and sides of dry hills a little to the 
south-east of Sarepta, and was very shy and difficult to approach ; 
under these conditions I was only able to secure a very short series. 
First seen on June 14th. 
(To be continued.) 
THE EMERGENCE OF CONCHYLIS GIGANTANA 
(ALTERNANA). 
By tHe Rev. W. G. Waittinecnam, F.E.S. 
Conchylis gigantana feeds and pupates in the flower-heads 
of Centaurea scabiosa. The heads which contain the pup are 
generally small and somewhat misshapen; rather swollen on 
one side, for example. They have, as a rule, no trace of florets, 
only the chaffy scales being perceptible. The heads are some- 
times so small that it seems likely that the larva has done part 
of its feeding in another flower-head, and having exhausted the 
supply of food, has crawled out to a fresh one before pupating. 
This is borne out by the fact that occasionally larger heads, 
which look like flowering, contain them. 
A number of heads were obtained in the latter part of July, 
the imagines emerging from July 22nd to August 26th. The 
emergence took place, as a rule, in the morning, between 8 a.m. 
and 10 a.m., though occasionally they appeared later in the day, 
especially when the weather was cool. ‘T'wo or three appeared 
in the afternoon. The following are the dates recorded and the 
number of insects emerging on them :—July 18th (one taken in 
the open); July 22nd (one); 28rd (two); 24th (one); 25th 
(three); 26th (one); 27th (two); 28th (one); 29th (three) ; 
30th (four); 31st (two); August 2nd (five); 38rd (two); 4th 
(three) ; 5th (one); 6th (one); 7th (one) ; 9th (one); 10th (one) ; 
12th (one); 13th (one); 14th (two); 15th (one); 17th (one) ; 
22nd (one) ; 26th (one). 
The process of the emergence was observed in several in- 
stances. The first indication was the appearance of the head of 
the pupa among the scales at the opening of the flower-head. 
When it had been noted that the insects usually appeared about 
breakfast time, a careful inspection at about the right time was 
again and again rewarded by the sudden appearance of a glint 
of shining brown pupal skin at the mouth of one or another 
seed-head. In a succession of slow rotary movements, accom- 
panied by a faint sound as the parts of the plant gave before 
them, the pupa worked its way forward till more than half of it 
ENTOM.—NOVEMBER, 1914. 28 
