﻿260 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. , 



the larvae were divided into four portions, three of which I gave to my 

 friends, reserving the fourth for myself. Number 1 batch was kept in 

 the living room all throughout their metamorphoses, and were fed on crab 

 until September, when bramble was given. Growing rapidly, they attained 

 their full growth and commenced to spin up at Christmas, the first imago 

 (a female) appearing on July 1st, and one or more every day up to the time 

 of writing. No. 2 batch were treated in a similar way to No. 1, but kept 

 in the cellar of the house : this lot did not actually hybernate, as my friend 

 told me that, when giving them fresh food (bramble), he found them crawling 

 about ; they commenced to prepare their cocoons May 27th, and up to the 

 time of writing no imago had emerged. No. 3 batch were treated in a 

 similar manner to No. 2, but, owing to some cause or other (probably damp), 

 died off one by one. No. 4 batch (my own) were kept in a kind of shed 

 sheltered from rain, and fed on crab up to the end of September; the crab 

 then failing, the larvae were placed out of doors, in a large cage specially 

 prepared for them, with a good growing plaut of bramble : they were 

 examined from time to time, and it was noted that they only partially 

 hybernated ; they appeared to eat very little, and became a trifle smaller. 

 The last winter, being very mild, not one died. About the middle of 

 March I took them out of the cage, and placed them in the shed. When 

 placed out for the winter they were about 1£ in. long, and, although they 

 had not grown during the winter, they were very lively, and to all appear- 

 ance healthy. When the weather got warmer, and hawthorn and crab 

 came into leaf, they were supplied with these, as well as bramble ; the 

 majority grew rapidly, attaining their full growth, and-spun up by June 1st. 

 The others are still feeding, and I do not expect they will pupate much 

 before August, the usual time in a perfectly natural condition. — John N. 

 Young ; 85, Filey Eoad, Kotherham, July 3, 1890. 



EUPITHECIA TOGATA, E. VENOSATA, AND EMMELESIA ALBULATA, TWO 



years in Pupa. — I have been breeding imagines of Eupithecia togata and 

 E. venosata, also Emmelesia albulata, which were collected in Shetland as 

 larva? by the Messrs. Salvage in 1888, and have thus been two years in 

 pupa. The first to emerge was E. venosata, on May 5th ; E. togata made 

 its appearance on May 19th ; and the first E. albulata showed itself on 

 June 17th. I can corroborate Mr. South's observations, in his interesting 

 note on E. togata in ' The Entomologist' (No. 325, p. 205), as to the dis- 

 crepancy in size, and colours, and markings of this species. One specimen 

 which 1 have measures very little over half an inch, my largest insects 

 being just an inch. Several had bright, claret-coloured bands when alive, 

 fading in tint considerably after death. One specimen — my largest — has 

 a broad, and dark red, band along the outer margins of both the fore and 

 hind wings, making the white zigzag line more than ordinarily conspicuous. 

 In some specimens there is scarcely any indication of this band. Kirby 

 gives the following as a distinction between E. abietaria (Goze) and E. 

 togata (Hubn.). He says E. togata is " most readily distinguished by its 

 much shorter palpi, which are only a little longer than the head." There is 

 a difference in the length of these organs in my specimens ; but I could 

 not pretend to separate them myself by this character. — Joseph Anderson, 

 Jun. (Chichester). 



A Plagkuu of Caterpillars. — A correspondent states that it is many 

 years since the fruit trees of Cheshire were so seriously damaged by cater- 



