The Zoologist— May, 1870. 2149 



others, were used in silk culture, but the black-fruited Morus was not : the 

 species mentioned were all hardy, and of rapid growth. Morus Japonica 

 especially produced very large leaves ; M. multicaulis grew rapidly and 

 pi'oduced large leaves, but was liable to be cut off by frost. 



Dr. Wallace remarked that in Bombyx Pernii sexual desire appeared to be 

 inordinately strong, and on three separate occasions, when the supply of 

 females was not equal to the demand, he had found two males inter se alium 

 alio junctos, sibi mutuum coitura praestautes : in one case he had killed the 

 moths with chloroform whilst they remained in ptederastic contact, and they 

 were exhibited in situ. They were placed side by side, face to face and tail to 

 tail, with their legs mutually intertwined. 



Dr. Wallace also mentioned that males of Bombyx Pernii had paired with 

 females of Saturnia Cecropia, S. Polyphemus and Anthersea Yamamai. From 

 the last mentioned union fertile eggs had been obtained ; a female Yamamai 

 emerged on the 17th of September, 1869, and she was placed the next evening 

 alone in a cage with a male Pernii which had come out late in the autumn ; 

 they were soon in copula ; on the 19th, on being moved, she spurted out a 

 whitish fluid similar to that ejected by the male Pernii, and on that day she 

 laid 50 eggs; on the 20th she laid 75 more, making a total of 125 eggs, and 

 was then killed for the cabinet : the eggs resembled the usual Yamamai eggs, 

 and were kept apart in a cool room facing north ; on the 3rd of November it 

 was found that most of them had hatched out : the larvae had red heads and 

 black bodies, and so far resembled Pernii, which are at first black, but they had 

 also yellow rings and lateral streaks ; some were lighter, some darker ; they 

 were very hairy, their bodies long and slender, the tubercles yellow and 

 containing several bristles. They continued to hatch out for several days tiU 

 all were hatched. On the 12th of November Dr. Algernon Chapman received 

 from Dr. Wallace two living larvae, and fed them on Quercus pedunculata ; on 

 the 20th both rested for their first moult, and on the morning of the 23rd both 

 had changed their skins ; one ate its cast-off skin, the other did not ; on the 

 29th one of the larvae was missing, and on the 1st of December the remaining 

 one suspended itself for another change of skin ; on the morning of the 4th it 

 had changed skin, and dui'ing its feeding up in this skin the supply of Quercus 

 pedunculata failed, but various species of evergreen oak were tried, and it 

 seemed to eat almost any indifferently; on the 16th of December it again 

 threw off its skin, and after the 23rd was at times in a temperature as low as 

 60° Fahr. ; on the 2nd of January, 1870, it again changed its skin, and ate the 

 cast-off skin during the night; and on the 18th it began to look out for a place 

 to spin. In the last two skins it would drink several drops of water, as many 

 as six or eight, every day, but when the food was wet it would not do so : except 

 at the period mentioned above, the temperature was always above 55°, and the 

 only effect of the lower temperature was to retard growth. The cocoon obtained 

 from this larva had been sent by Dr. Chapman to Dr. Wallace, and was exhibited 



