NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS. 87 



for the year 1921, 1 have a quantity of pupae of the following laying- 

 over that should have emerged as a second brood last summer (in the 

 regular way) and some partially emerged, the rest going over, which 

 seems more curious still, and in one instance (that of Venilia macu- 

 late) going through a second winter this time. G. rhizolitha all 

 emerged August 10th to August 18th — very early date. Xanthorlioc 

 sociata: 20 per cent, of summer brood emerged, the rest going to 

 emerge next spring. Mesoleuca ocellata : I have forty fine larvae 

 which spun up in thin webs on the side of the pot last August ; the 

 larvae have been in a half-circle inside ever since, half changed to 

 pupae, and the -first three did so last week (February 8th, 1922). The 

 others now look as though they are going to change also. Xanthorlioc. 

 montanata : Have been feeding sixty odd larvae all last summer ; only 

 three pupated. One emerged October 10th, 1921, and was in pupa 

 only fourteen days ; another emerged December 4th — only nine 

 days, an astoundingly short period ; the third died, and the balance 

 •of the larvae are hibernating at all sizes from fully grown downwards 

 (foodplant, bedstraw). Venilia maculata : Took females Bere Wood, 

 Bloxworth, May 29th, 1920, reared on wood sage. Not more than 

 10 per cent, emerged May, 1921 (last summer), and the balance, about 

 twenty-five pupae, are passing through this winter, 1922. I will record 

 later what happens to them. Lobophora viretata: Beat fifteen larvae 

 from holly, June 17th, 1921 ; four emerged August 3rd to 10th, rest 

 of the pupae laying over. I picked up three larvae of Bombyx quercus 

 July 18th and 30th and August 21st. They all pupated early 

 September, 1920 ; I presume they were var. callunce. However, one 

 died during the first winter ; the other two I expected to emerge May 

 •or June, 1921, according to callunce, habit, but they didn't arrive, 

 neither did they arrive in August, and on October 1st I broke open 

 the cocoons to see if the pupae were dead, as I anticipated they must 

 be, but they were both alive and healthy, and remained so until 

 January 10th, 1922, when the first died, and on the 15th the second 

 one died. Had I not broken the cocoons open there is no doubt 

 but they would have lived right through this winter, which goes 

 to prove that quercus, or callunae, sometimes passes two winters 

 in the pupa. I beat four larvae of Gymnoscelis pumilata from holly, 

 June 17th, 1921. They emerged very small, and a dove grey 

 coloration all over (most unusual food-plant). Acidalia dimidiata 

 double-brooded last August : not usual to double-brood here, generally 

 further north. Asthena candidata and Lobophora sexalisata botli 

 failed to double-brood last summer, although they both usually do 

 here, and the pupae are passing through the winter. I had two fine 

 specimens (one male, one female) of formiciformis emerge September 

 1st and 3rd, 1921, from sticks of sallow I had cut the previous 

 April and May (a very late date for emergence). Erratic dates : The 

 most unusual for 1921, and one 1920, of wild captures were the 

 following: gamma, December 24th, 1920, just emerged, quite fresh, 

 flying over heather. January 28th, 1921 : hippocastanaria m plenty, 

 also pumilata. February 10th : lithonza on a fence (when with 

 Mr. Newman of Bexley). February 12th: Several mulhstngata. 

 March 12th: dozens of hippocastanaria. May 15th: hippocastanaria 

 {very late) showing a long range of emergence from January 28th 



