130 Some Notes on the Breeding of the Acherontia Atropos. 



turned as yet, and that he had placed them in a cool room, where 

 he kept all his other insects, as he had always heard that too much 

 warmth was bad for them, and caused them to emerge with imperfect 

 wings. I felt at once their death-warrant had been signed, for after 

 the vapour bath that they had been subjected to, I was quite sure 

 that any radical change of atmosphere must be most deleterious, if 

 not fatal, to them. So I wrote at once to my friend, urging upon 

 him that the " proof of the pudding was in the eating,^^ and that 

 having safely hatched out six perfect insects, what could be a better 

 proof of the right way of action ? After this he removed them into 

 his dining-room, and during the fortnight I was away two more 

 perfect moths emerged; one also, with rather crumpled wings, and 

 one chrysalis died. On my return I immediately sent for my 

 treasures, and on looking at the four remaining chrysalides detected 

 at once a very decided change for the worse — one was quite black, 

 and evidently ought to have changed some days before and felt cold 

 and clammy, while the other three had comparatively little life left 

 in them. Before my departure, as I have described, the chrysalides 

 were quite lively ; and more than once I distinctly heard the squeak 

 of the moth inside the chrysalis, and that, several days before it 

 emerged, showing how full of life they were. I immediately, 

 therefore, set to work, steeped the moss top and bottom in hot 

 water, and placed them once more in their old corner before the 

 fire. On the morrow the dark chrysalis was quite dead, but the 

 other three I found fast returning to their old liveliness. On 

 December 3rd one of them turned. I came in from the garden and 

 noticed the kitten playing round the glass and trying to reach 

 something inside it. I at once felt a moth must be creeping about, 

 and, on looking, found one, alas ! on its back on the moss, close to 

 the glass on the fire side of the shade, which from my not having 

 taken the precaution, since my return, to cover with brown paper, 

 had become so hot that it had actually scorched the moth, so that 

 it could not recover itself without help. I immediately took it up 

 and placed it on a stick, but I had been a minute or two too late in 

 discovering it. It squeaked (with pleasure ?) and laid hold of the 

 stick, and the wings grew a little ; but the few minutes it had been 



