23 



or a pupa was found between the united terminal growing leaves. I 

 must therefore modify my former statement that this last mentioned 

 position is the one generally selected. The only object that the 

 larva has appears to be to find some place where it may spin itself 

 up in seclusion, and this applies equally to the feeding larva? as to 

 those about to pupate. 



On the imago emerging from the pupa development takes place 

 very rapidly, the wings being fully extended within a few minutes. 

 Indeed, the hanging up to allow the wings to expand, which is so 

 laborious a proceeding with many of the larger species, seems to be 

 hardly a necessity in this case, the chief part of the expansion appar- 

 ently being attained by the moth sitting in a slanting position raising 

 its wings over its back, and lowering them again ; the operation being 

 repeated until they have attained their full size. The freshly emerged 

 female is a particularly sluggish creature, those I found being invari- 

 ably within an inch or two of the pupa-skin that they had recently 

 vacated. Emergence takes place in the morning, approximately 

 between 7 and 9 a.m., and the females appear often to find mates at 

 once ; one I found paired whose wings were not fully developed. On 

 one occasion I saw the males in full flight. It was on September 

 26th. There had been rain in the night, and during the early morn- 

 ing a very fine drizzle was falling, which had hardly ceased at 8.30, 

 although the sun was just breaking through the clouds and shedding 

 a warm glow over the land. On passing a garden, where I knew 

 the species to occur, my attention was attracted by some half dozen 

 little moths flying briskly about. Their flight was most peculiar : a 

 sort of zig-zag, more resembling a series of jumps in the air than 

 continuous flight ; not that they alighted, but after a rapid flight of 

 two or three yards in one direction they suddenly turned at right 

 angles for a short distance, then turned again, and so on. Flight 

 continued until 9.50, after which time not one was seen on the wing, 

 but by searching the Euonymus hedges in the neighbourhood two of 

 the moths were found settled down on the upper sides of the leaves. 



A couple of days later, on a very similar morning as to weather 

 conditions, I saw another male on the wing at 9.30, and it almost 

 immediately settled down out of reach. The female appears to fly 

 seldom ; indeed, I have only once seen it on the wing, and then its 

 flight was so different from that of the male that one would hardly 

 have recognised it as the same species : a steady booming flight, 

 more like that of a burnet than anything else I can compare it to. 

 There can, I think, be no doubt that the chief time of flight is in the 

 early morning sunshine, and pairing certainly takes place at that time. 

 Whether there is also an evening flight I cannot say, but although I 

 have frequently been on the look out for it I have discovered nothing 

 that would lead me to suppose that there is one. 



Some Notes on the Ovum. — I was not fortunate in finding wild 

 ova, chiefly, perhaps, because no very careful search was made for 

 them, but more probably on account of my having to leave the 



