1J2 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



my July experiences the pupae were all healthy, and out of a dozen 

 only one really failed to emerge, although another, as I will mention 

 later, did not become fully perfect. These dozen pupae were kept in 

 glass-covered flower pots in my sitting-room, and the first butterfly 

 emerged during the last week of October. I then began to see what 

 effect direct sunlight had on the emergence, and discovered that the 

 pupae which were exposed in the window on sunny days quickly 

 emerged, but the result of holding them back in the shade and 

 only giving them occasional doses of sunlight was to retard the 

 latest emergences till the first week of December. For instance, 

 one day these turned colour, and the wing markings of the butterfly 

 were plainly visible through the pupa case. The next day one of 

 these broke its shell under the influence of the sun's rays, but when 

 I removed them into the shade again all growth seemed to stop ; 

 in fact, the partially emerged one never got any further at all, 

 and its two companions delayed their arrival for two days. The 

 perfect insects also were remarkably responsive to sunlight. Two 

 or three, which were always kept in the shade, never moved at 

 all from the time of their emergence till death cut short their 

 careers. Others seemed to prepare for hibernation, but ten minutes' 

 bright sunshine would galvanise them into the excitement of active 

 life. I believe it is commonly the case with this family that the 

 sexes take no interest in each other till after hibernation ; certainly 

 none of mine did. But, on the other hand, the somewhat confined 

 space of a flower-pot was not very congenial to five or six lively and 

 powerful butterflies ! Early in December death carried off one after 

 another of the butterflies. I fancy that it was the early morning 

 frosts, felt even in a room, which caused them to die ; I am all 

 the more astonished to read Mr. Frohawk's account (antea, p. 40) of 

 atalanta being found alive out of doors in February. For before 

 Christmas all mine were dead. — J. S, Carter, Warren Hill Cottage, 

 Eastbourne. 



The audacity of a Bird. — " It was either a very bold or a very 

 hungry member of the feathered tribe (perhaps both), for I was 

 sitting in my room, writing at a table not far away, when I heard 

 a suspicious fluttering of wings in the neighbourhood of some freshly 

 turned and turning pupae hanging up to dry. I got up quickly, just 

 in time to see a good sized bird fly through the open door out on to 

 the verandah, where he boldly perched on the balustrade outside, 

 with something in his beak. I turned to the pupae to discover 

 which I had lost by this unseemly and unlooked-for intrusion, 

 and I soon saw that a huge larva of Papilio polymnestor, which 

 I had hung up for pupation the night before, was missing ; and 

 though the last of a good many others of this species, it was an 

 especially large one, and would no doubt have produced in due 

 course a very fine female. It had been bred from an ovum. The 

 bird who had paid me this unwelcome visit and thus partaken un- 

 invited of my hospitality was about the size of a Starling." — Mar- 

 garet E. Fountaine, F.E.S., Khandala (Poona), India, Jan. 17th, 1913, 



Notes on the Earlier Stages of Erebia embla.— Amongst 

 the H+rebia embla captured by me at Saeterstoen, in South Norway, 



