REARING CALLIMORPHA QUADRIPUNCTARtA (HKRA). 215 



On September 6th, 1920, I netted a 2 near Teignmouth, in South 

 Devon, which I kept in a chip-box for ova. She laid 37 eggs, 10 the 

 first night, 13 the night following, and the remainder during the day- 

 time on September 8th, after which I allowed her to fly away in the 

 evening, as I considered I had obtained a sufficient number of ova to 

 experiment with. 



The larva? began to appear on September 15th, and all hatched out, 

 except one from an egg laid loosely, during the two following 

 days. At least, I think all but one must have come out, although I 

 was never able to count more than 34 young larva?, so presume that 

 two escaped when newly hatched. For their first meal they demolished 

 their egg-shells without leaving a trace; afterwards they "browsed" 

 on the leaves of groundsel which I started them off on, but after a few 

 days I tried them with several other plants and found they would eat 

 dandelion, perhaps their favourite pabulum, and also forget-me-not and 

 bramble, but do not fancy they much relished the two latter, as these 

 plants were practically neglected when either dandelion or 

 groundsel was offered at the same time. Eventually I fed them princi- 

 pally with dandelion, and groundsel occasionally for a change, includ- 

 ing the buds and opening blossoms of both these plants which they 

 seem partial to. 



In reading up notes on the life-history of this insect I find that it 

 has been advised to keep the larva? in a lofty breeding cage, so that 

 they may obtain plenty of air, but I decided to try a different method. 

 I therefore kept my young larva) in a large chip-box, which I placed in 

 a pigeon-hole within a closed bureau in a room heated with a fire 

 throughout the winter months. My idea being that the larva? would 

 thus enjoy a fairly equable temperature during the cold weather ;' and 

 for providing them with sufficient fresh air I made a point of opening 

 the box I kept them in every morning and evening, and generally once 

 or twice besides during the day. 



The lame have a habit, when not feeding, of resting on the lid of 

 the box where, also, they undergo their several moults. The first 

 moult took place about the first week of October, and the second at the 

 end of the month, the last individual doing so on November 6th, on 

 which date a few of the more forward larvae were making preparations 

 for their third moult. On November 15th, several had shed their skins 

 for the third time, and all the others were on the lid of the chip- box 

 preparing to do so, which all succeeded in doing by November 28th. 

 As my larva? had grown I now kept them in two chip- boxes and con- 

 tinued to keep them in my bureau. At this stage the larva? do not feed 

 much, and about the middle of December a cold snap made them very 

 sluggish. On the 27th of the month I was doubtful if any were feed- 

 ing, but I continued to put fresh food in about every other day as the 

 weather had become very warm for the time of the year. 



Vecember 29f/*. — One larva came down from the lid and fed a little 

 on dandelion. Its example was not followed by any of the others until 

 about the middle of January. 



January 19th. — During the last two or three days several of the 

 larva? commenced to feed again on groundsel, and I noticed that one or 

 two of the caterpillars were eating into the blossoms. 



January 23rrf. — All the larva? have been feeding well and some are 

 nearly, if not quite, half an inch in length. To-day, one of the largest 

 is preparing for its fourth moult. 



