516 Notes in 1887 upon lepidopterous larve, de. 
ontogeny of the first-named species in the most satis- 
factory manner. 
Mr. Pode captured a female S. convolvuli, flying over 
geranium in the garden at Slade, in the evening of 
Aug. 26th, 1887. Having previously obtained speci- 
mens in the same locality, and knowing my wish to 
work out the life-history, Mr. Pode placed the living 
female in a large box, in the hope of obtaining eggs. 
On the evening of Aug. 27th two eggs were laid, which 
were preserved by Mr. Pode: on the 29th, however, 
eighteen eggs were laid upon the paper bottom of the 
box, near together, but not in contact, being scattered 
over an area 18mm. long by 10mm. wide. These 
eighteen were sent to me, and constituted the material 
upon which this part of the paper was written. After 
this date the moth did not lay any more eggs. The only 
reference to the early part of this ontogeny, in any 
previous work, is that contained in Mr. Buckler’s account 
of the larve of Sphingide (Ray Society, 1886). Mr. 
Hellins there mentions (p. 109) two occasions on which 
fertile eggs were obtained, but in both cases the larve 
died in the first stage, without any notes of interest 
having been taken. 
If the amount of care and work bestowed upon the 
details of this life-history should appear to any one to 
be excessive, and perhaps unnecessarily minute, I would 
point out, in extenuation, that I was dealing with a 
species which has never been previously described, 
except in the first and the last stages, and which I may 
never have the opportunity of investigating again. The 
immense difficulty in obtaining fertile ova of this species 
caused me to work at the material so kindly provided 
by Mr. Pode as if it were a last and final opportunity. 
Ovum.—The ova are of the colour and shape (when 
looked at from above) shown in Plate XV., fig. 1 x 9. 
This deep bluish green colour is very unlike the brighter 
yellower shade of all the ova of Sphingide with which I 
am acquainted. Mr. Hellins, however, describes the 
egg as ‘“‘pale green” (l.c.). It is possible that Mr. 
Hellins only noted the colour when it had changed 
as a result of the development of the larve. ‘The 
shape is also different from that of closely related 
species, being relatively broader. But the most 
peculiar point about the ovum is its extremely small 
