Holmesdale Natural History Club. 13 



curious observations. In 1867 I bred several of these moths, and upon 

 removing the old pupa cases from the breeding cage some short time afterwards 

 I found a fully developed moth within a case which had duly escaped from 

 the chrysalis, but afterwards, in consequence of the extra hardness of the 

 outer shell caused by another caterpillar spinning up against its cocoon (as 

 above mentioned), was unable to make its escape and had died within. This 

 determined me to breed a large series, that I might, if possible, learn the 

 means by which the imago released itself from the hard shelly prison in 

 which it had previously been immured. In the following month of April, 

 having obtained a good supply, I purposely removed many pupas from their 

 cases, the better to watch their progress. This proceeding was of course the 

 death-blow to all timid or nervous specimens ; the more robust, however, 

 beyond contracting still more their hinder segments, seemed none the 

 ■worse, and as time progressed,! was glad that I had done so. When the 

 imago of a (Sphinx emerges from the chrysalis the upper portion of the 

 shell is entirely burst off by the pressure of the insect within, and the moth 

 has no difficulty in making an immediate escape ; with Vinula the procedure 

 is more leisurely and more complicated. As with the Nocturni, I noticed 

 the pupfe to become very restless ; this continued for a period of time vary- 

 ing from half -an-hour to 2 J hours, the chrysalis turning over and over with- 

 out seemingly any definite object. This motion was sometimes prolonged 

 for many consecutive seconds, and was, as is usually the case after exertion 

 in higher orders, intersjjersed with periods of repose. After this another 

 movement began, viz., a bending backwards once or twice; this was 

 succeeded by the usual abdominal elongation, and soon a longitudinal split 

 appeared in the thorax, which continued to increase as the insect exerted its 

 powers from within ; then cross splits showed themselves near the head, 

 gradually extending to the front and joining some which ran down by the 

 antennse, &c. When a space sufficiently large had shown itself the left fore- 

 leg was drawn out, followed by the right, and after a moment's rest the 

 imago drew itself clear of the pupa-case. The head, face, and shoulders 

 were still covered with a portion of the case however, completely masking 

 them, nor was this removed until after a transparent fluid had been ejected, 

 I presume, from the mouth ; after several drops of this had been exuded, the 

 mask either fell from the face or was scratched off by the forelegs, and the 

 moth sought a favourable place where the wings might expand and harden. 

 Up to this time a quarter of an hour only- had elapsed from the time I first 

 distinguished the cracking of the pupa shell. The result of this experiment 

 and observation was peculiarly gratifying to me at the time ; it was not 

 only new (for I could find nothing bearing on the matter in books), but it 

 explained so much in itself. Like others, I had noticed the gradually 

 increasing dampness at the end of the hard cocoon, and seen the insect 

 break forth, but omitted the casting of the shield (in a natural state more 

 quickly shed during- emergence) ; now the whole proceeding was laid clear 

 before me, and the varied statements of authors proved to have been 

 founded on conjecture. A fluid (whether an acid or not* is of no consequence) 

 * In Silkworms this has been distinctly proved to be an acid. 



