REARING CALLIMORPHA QUADRIPUNCTARIA (hERa). 217 



May 25th. — All have pupated, including the one that remained to 

 do so on the side of a hox. The pupation of the latter was not a 

 success, as the pupa was malformed through becoming loosened from 

 the cocoon and, being entangled to the web by its anal extremity, was 

 bent up against the bottom of the box, in which shape it hardened. 

 This was one of the few pupa? that failed to produce a moth. 



July 8th. — The first two imagines came out during the middle of 

 the day, and two more in the afternoon, one of the latter being a 

 cripple. The moths are very restless and flutter or crawl about the 

 pupa-box after becoming fully developed, which is generally about an 

 hour or so after emerging. I find it rather difficult to know when to 

 take them, for if one leaves them a little bit too long they are apt to 

 spoil themselves, but if taken too soon the wings become very limp 

 after being placed in the killing- bottle. 



July 10th.— Another emerged, but being unable to completely 

 detach itself from the pupa-case the hindwings were crippled. 



July 11th. — Another emerged about 10 a.m. (G.M.T.), and two 

 more in the afternoon. The one that came out in the morning was 

 rather badly bitten on the back while in the larval state when prepar- 

 ing for its final moult, but it managed to change its skin, with a little 

 help on my part, and in the end successfully pupated. I kept it by 

 itself to see if the imago would show any signs of the injury to the 

 larva, and notice that there is a slight scar showing on the upperside 

 of the abdomen. 



July 12th. — Two came out between 10 and 11 a.m., and a third 

 about 4 or 5 p.m. 



July lQth. — Five came out between 9 a.m. and mid -day, and a 

 sixth in the evening about 6 p.m. 



July 14th. — One emerged between 8.30 and 9 a.m., and a second, 

 the last to emerge, about 10.15 a.m. 



I gave three fully-fed larvae away in May, and I have since heard 

 that two imagines were successfully bred from them. Including these 

 the result from my 37 ova is as follows : — One ovum (laid loosely) 

 failed to hatch, five larva? escaped, one larva had to be killed as it 

 failed to shed its skin, four larva? eaten or so badly bitten by their 

 companions that they had to be destroyed : the remaining 26 larva? 

 pupated, and from them 21 imagines emerged, including two crippled, 

 and another which was not kept as a specimen as it was malformed, 

 having a hole in the middle of one of its forewings. 



The sixteen moths I have kept are of good size and quite as large 

 as specimens we have captured in South Devon, and the sexes are 

 evenly represented. Besides the colour of the hindwings, which ranges 

 from a darkish red to a light orange, there is, at first glance, not very 

 much variation in my specimens, but on studying the pattern of the 

 forewings I notice that the costal dash, between the two principal 

 cream-coloured transverse markings, is much subject to modification. 

 In its more developed form this may be described as a conspicuous 

 cuneiform streak running from the costal margin, the wide end cream 

 and the point orange, but in a number of specimens this wedge-shaped 

 marking is either divided — so as to resemble a semi-colon, or colon 

 — or else reduced to a single spot. In one of my specimens it is only 

 indicated on the right wing by an almost imperceptible dot, and is 

 entirely absent on the left. 



