246 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



FURTHER NOTES ON FORCING AGROTIS ASHWOBTHll. 

 By Colonel Partridge. 



Though I have mainly to record a failure, the following notes 

 may prove interesting : — 



On March 26th last I received twenty half- grown larvte, which 

 were placed in a moderately warm greenhouse, and fed on haw- 

 thorn buds and leaves, which were then just obtainable. On 

 April 10th they commenced to go down, and by the 16th all had 

 disappeared. On the 19th the first imago appeared, and by the 

 24th nine had emerged, which a subsequent examination of the 

 pot showed were all that had pupated. 



On the 23rd I placed a male and female together, but, though 

 very closely watched, I could not see that they paired ; so, to 

 make matters more sure, the next night I placed a fresh male in 

 the cage. During the night of the 26th, 200 ova were deposited, 

 the second night 103, the third night 35, the fourth night none, 

 but on the fifth night a further 142, making a total of 480. 

 Forty-eight hours after being deposited the ova turned light 

 brown, with the exception of one egg, and this egg was the only 

 one which failed to produce a larva. The larvae were given 

 knot-grass, to which they readily took, and were fed on it 

 throughout, and thrived amazingly, with the exception of the 

 142 larvae from the last-laid ova, which died almost immediatelj^ 

 apparently for the most part too weakly to make their first meal 

 off the egg-shell. Losses occurred from time to time, but I 

 believe in every instance the result of accident, being overlooked 

 in changing the food, or escape from the pots ; in no single 

 instance did I find a dead body until the final catastrophe came. 

 The larvae had been kept throughout in large flower-pots piled 

 against the hot-water pipes in the bath-room, and commenced to 

 pupate on July 16th. About this time the great heat-wave set 

 in, but a day or two's absence from home prevented my moving 

 them to cooler and more roomy quarters, and in four days I lost 

 the lot, with the exception of seven, which had already pupated, 

 and which are now producing imagines. The disease which 

 killed them seemed to be a fungoid growth which ajDpeared on 

 the anal segment in the shape of a small yellow spot, much like 

 the commencement of a gathering. The anal segment then 

 assumed a wrinkled look, as if the larva had cast its skin, and it 

 remained sticking there. After this death was only a matter 

 of an hour or two, when the larva was black, drawn out, and 

 flaccid. 



The main points of interest appear to me to be — 1st. The 

 wonderful fecundity of this species. 2nd. That by breeding 

 from parents, themselves forced, I was able to obtain a second 



