430 Movley : Lije History of Dasypolia templi. 



During the month of October the females are fertihzed, 

 and at once hide themselves in stone heaps for the winter, the 

 early frosts destroying all the males. I have never seen the 

 perfect insect feed either at ' sugar,' flowers, or on honey-dew. 

 A female, after pairing, will comfortably pass the winter in a 

 box, and deposit her ova in spring, without having the chance 

 of food or showing the least need of it. 



Late in October, 1906, 1 found a moth of each sex in a quarry 

 hill at Denby. I kept them seperately in chip boxes. The 

 male died sometime during the last week in November. The 

 female took up her position near the centre of the lid, and 

 apparently never moved until the last week in the following 

 March. 



In the hope that the female would eventually give me 

 fertile ova, I prepared a suitable breeding cage in the garden 

 to rear the larvae in. Inside this I planted twelve pounds of 

 garden parsnips, which made really fine growth by the end of 

 April. On the 4th of April she deposited about one hundred 

 ova, fastening them singly on the sides of the box. After five 

 months of close captivity this moth was in perfect cabinet 

 condition. 



The ova period was twenty-six days ; little larvse emerged 

 on the 30th of April, and were distributed on the parsnip 

 leaves. The larvse mined into the mid-ribs of the leaves, 

 and their progress could be easily traced by the latter withering. 

 They slowly descended the centres of the leaf-stems until at 

 last all the leaves collapsed and became a rotting covering over 

 the earth inside the cage. The roots were then attacked, and 

 in eight weeks' time, little was left of the parsnips. Carrots 

 were then thrust into the earth and the larvse pupated before 

 they were all consumed. The larval period lasted fourteen 

 weeks. Forty-six perfect insects, or nearly half the number 

 of the ova, emerged. I have since had experience with wild 

 larvse. The descriptions of the ovum and larva given in New- 

 man's British Moths are perfect. 



Wild larvse of this species thrive principally on the common 

 hogweed {Heracleiim sphondylium), and occasionally on Wild 

 Angelica [Angelica sylvestris). They feed head downwards 

 in the centres of the flower stems, in the stems of the stock 

 leaves, and also in the roots. They always eat their way to 

 the roots. When the plant is destroyed, they crawl away to 

 other plants, which they ascend outside, gnawing holes for 



Naturalist, 



