128 Some Notes on the Breeding of the Acherontia Atropos. 



and; highly delighted with my prize, I hurried off to the nearest 

 chemist, who administered a dose of chloroform to it for me. There 

 has been a good deal of controversy as to the manner in which the 

 moth emits the peculiar noise I have mentioned, which you can 

 always evoke by touching it; but I did not know the fact till 

 this autumn that the chrysalis itself, or rather the moth inside the 

 chrysalis shell, will emit the same squeaking noise when it is 

 handled, and that, several days before it is ready to emerge from its 

 prison-house. This I noticed several times on my touching the 

 chrysalides to replace them on the moss that I had warmed for their 

 reception. 



To return, however, to the hatching-out process. In exactly four 

 weeks [i.e., on November 7th), on my coming down to breakfast, I 

 had the satisfaction of finding my first moth safely hatched out. 

 It had been out evidently for some hours, and fine insect as it was 

 — the wings measuring nearly five inches across when expanded — it 

 was some seconds ere I espied it on the stick, so closely did the 

 colours of the outer wings assimilate themselves to the bark on 

 which it rested. On the 10th a second moth emerged, and on the 

 11th a third; all perfect insects — while six others had become so 

 dark that I felt they must turn (or die, as they sometimes will, 

 without rhyme or reason) in a few days. I was going away in 

 three or four days' time for a fortnight, and was most anxious about 

 them, as it was such an awkward case to move about, that I had 

 little chance of doing it in safety; and I felt that no one else was 

 likely to tend them exactly in the same way, or keep them exactly 

 in the same degree of temperature, that I myself had done. Day 

 after day I anxiously awaited the appearance of some more moths, 

 but four or five days passed away and nothing occurred. The 

 Sunday came, and I was off early on the Monday morning ; and I 

 felt convinced (according to the establishtd rule of contraries) that 

 several of them would turn just as I was leaving, so that I should 

 not even have time to kill them and set them out. Sure enough, 

 when I returned at 7, p.m., from my last evening service, I saw 

 that a fine moth had just emerged, and had climbed up to the top 

 of one of the sticks to let its wings develop. On this I took the 



