251 



except an odd one which later laid unfertile eggs. Eai-Iy on the 

 8th March, the eggs began to hatch which they all did within a 

 couple of days, thus taking about 10 days to germinate. 



It was with the greatest difficulty, and after trying every- 

 thing I could think of as a substitute for oak, that at last I found 

 that Terminalia Catappa would suit them, though they seemed 

 doubtful, as some of them rejected it at first, having for many 

 generations fed on the oak. This can be understood, especially 

 as this species is not nearly so polyphagous as many others, and 

 to quote from a Catalogue Raisonn^ by Mr. Alfred Wailly to 

 illustrate this : — 



" Pernyi larvse may be reared on plum and apple trees, but 

 they do not thrive well on these as far as my experience goes. 

 One of my correspondents in Illinois, U.S.A., however wrote me 

 some years ago that he saw his Pernyi larvje of the second 

 generation leave oak trees of which the foliage had become hard 

 and tough through the great heat and drought to go and feed on 

 hawthorn bushes ; others were found in a garden on apple trees, 

 where they had reached an enormous size." 



None of the plants mentioned above grow here ; I tried the 

 larvte on allied species of these trees, which they would not touch, 

 so my difficulty in finding a substitute may be imagined. The 

 larvae are for the first eight or ten days, black, covered with 

 bunches of white hair which rise from tubercles ; there are two 

 tubercles to every angulated segment except the last which merges 

 into one. On the 18tli March, most of them had moulted and 

 become light green, with a total change of appearance ; after 

 other moults they became very fine looking insects ; the head is 

 light brown, dotted with black, the tubercles being tipped Avith 

 gold ; there are lateral rows of spots ; one of gold and below that 

 one of purple the bunches of hair become clubbed at the tips 

 and the green light emerald, when at rest they assume a sphinx- 

 like attitude. 



Telea Polyphemus was the next species, which made its 

 appearance within a short time of Pernyi, one appearing early on 

 the 26th February, two others at mid-day, and two more on 

 February 28th unfortunately all wei*e males, leaving me only two 

 cocoons, one of which (a female) appeared on the 9th March. I 

 cannot account for the lapse of time between the appearance of 

 the males, and the female as they were in the same situation. 

 This female deposited a few eggs on March 1 3th ; owing to some 

 mishap the ants got into the cage and killed it. Nine of the 

 eggs proved fertile ; parthenogenesis or agamic reproduction in 

 this species has been known to take place, as Packard's work on 

 the Study of Insects gives an instance, although in so few eggs 

 as I possessed it would be improbable ; though the climate 



