426 Mr. H. Eltringham on the 
of the segments the tuft was made to open and close, the 
action somewhat resembling the manner in which an 
elephant picks up small objects with its trunk. Not every 
female emerging from a naked pupa made these move- 
ments, or at least not for any appreciable length of time, 
a fact which suggested a further experiment which I shall 
describe later. I now wished to see the process actually 
carried on in the cocoon. Since it was not possible to 
decide when a moth was about to emerge from a pupa 
when the latter was enclosed, pupae were removed by 
cutting off the posterior end of the cocoon. With a little 
practice it is possible to determine with some accuracy by 
the appearance of the pupa when a moth is ready to 
emerge. As soon as it had cracked the pupal skin it was 
slipped back into the cocoon the open end of which was 
pinned down. From a male pupa so treated the moth 
emerged very rapidly. The anterior end of the cocoon 
seems to be comparatively thin, and a thrusting movement 
of the head and thorax soon tore a hole through which the 
moth emerged and ran to the side of the box. A female 
treated in the same manner at first emerged only so far 
as the anterior part of the thorax. In this position the 
extremity of her abdomen was just on a level with the 
band of spicules in the cocoon and she proceeded to carry 
out the peculiar movements I have already described. 
The anal tuft could be distinctly seen moving round and 
round the cocoon and opening and shutting amongst the 
spicules. 
It is of great interest to note that the hairs of which 
the female tuft is composed are specially adapted to hold 
these spicules when collected, since towards their proximal 
ends they are irregularly spinose. Fig. 4 shows the ends 
of a few of these hairs with one or two spicules adhering 
thereto. 
I have already said that not every female emerging from 
a naked pupa made the appropriate sweeping movements, 
a fact which suggested that normally the stimulus of 
contact with the cocoon was necessary. I therefore placed 
such a female after complete emergence but before the 
wings had begun to expand, in a cocoon. Almost im- 
mediately she began to make her way out and having 
partially emerged proceeded to sweep up the spicules in 
the manner already described. 
One further point remains to be elucidated. Prof. 
