90 BRITISH LEPIDOPTERA. 



PP- 77> 83) that occasional instances of exceptionally rapid feeding-up, 

 pupation, and emergence have been recorded. Andrews states (E.M.M., 

 xxxvii., pp. 125 et seq.) that a ? , taken in the New Forest, August, 1900, 

 laid some 100 eggs, which hatched in 12 days; the larvae fed slowly 

 on oak until September 20th, then broad-leaved sallow was given them 

 until October 10th, and willow until November 10th, when bramble was 

 substituted. Until this date, each of the larval moults had occupied 

 six days, but a moult that occurred now extended over 1 2 days, and the 

 larvae were then put on ivy ; feeding up rapidly, the first larva pupated 

 on December 15th and the last during the first week of February, 

 except one larva which remained unchanged in its cocoon from early 

 January until the middle of February (6 weeks). This was then 

 removed to a warm room, where it pupated in three days. The first 

 imago appeared on February 23rd, 1901, and between this and March 

 22nd, 6 $ s and 7 ?.s emerged. A pairing was obtained about the 

 middle of March, and 150 eggs resulted * these eggs hatched at the end 

 of April, and the larvae were fed during the first stadium on oak, and 

 afterwards on willow ; they fed up rapidly, the first larva spinning up on 

 July 15th, and the first emergence taking place about August 24th. 

 Another pairing was obtained in due course, and fertile eggs from this 

 coition are now (October 1st, 1901) undergoing development. It is 

 further interesting to observe that, at the present time, one pupa of the 

 brood that spun up between December 15th, 1900, and the first week of 

 February, 1901, is still in that state, and, in spite of its being kept in 

 the same place and under exactly the same conditions as the rest, 

 shows no sign of emergence, and evidently intends passing the winter, 

 1 90 1 -2 as a pupa. Ransom observes that the larvae feed by night, 

 preferably on whitethorn in the Sudbury district, and often hide in 

 the grass below the hedges by day ; Clifford states that the young 

 larvae will continue to feed on even into December, if the weather 

 be mild, on oak, hawthorn, and hazel leaves, not even rejecting them 

 when withered ; they prefer to place themselves on the twigs to 

 winter, although some will extend themselves upon the ground, 

 usually singly, and once they begin to hybernate they continue 

 stretched out on the twigs, and, from time to time, move their 

 position slightly, recommencing to feed in February and March, 

 when they will indulge in a slight repast upon the young vegetation 

 springing up from the ground, although they may yet more often 

 be found stretched at length on hawthorn twigs. Rea says that, 

 at Worcester, larvae feed up all the winter without hybernating. In 

 the spring, when nearly fullfed, the larvae may be found during 

 the day in the Strood district, stretched at full length on the stems 

 of various bushes, preferably on maple, where they are rather difficult 

 to detect except by a well -trained eye, so well do the lateral 

 hairs meet the twigs, and break the shadows that would otherwise 

 be formed. The larvae, about an inch long, are to be found in 

 the Weymouth district in late autumn and spring principally on 

 bushes in dry situations, feeding on bramble, whitethorn and black- 

 thorn, but, in the autumn of 1895, at Portland, although the bramble 

 stems on which they are then usually sunning themselves were carefully 

 searched, none was found, when, by chance, one was seen upon a 

 scrubby piece of dogwood, and further search resulted in 40 being 

 found in half-an-hour (Forsyth). Corbin says that the larvae must 



