amOrpha populi. 48? 



Viewed from the left side and behind, the relative positions of the 

 terminal spine, the anus and anal cushions are seen to bear precisely 

 the same relation to each other as the anal flap, the anus, and anal 

 claspers of the larva, thus supporting other observations which 

 prove that these parts are respectively homologous. In the male 

 pupa, seen ventrally, the opening of the male generative organs is 

 distinct on the 9th abdominal segment; its direction is somewhat 

 oblique, an irregularity which is not uncommon, and probably 

 follows from the extremely ancestral character of the organs. 

 The lateral lips are flattened, and marked with a sculpture which 

 is different from that of the surface of the 9th abdominal segment. 

 (See also anted, vol, ii., pp. 53, 56.) Poulton further observes (anted, 

 ii., p. 59) that he has observed the light oblique stripes, with 

 their dark green borders, of the larvae of this species and S. ocellata, 

 conspicuously appearing upon the surface just after pupation. 



Foodplants. — Willow, poplar (Peachell), aspen (Musham), 

 Populus, Salix (Himsl), small species of moorland willow (Gor- 

 don), almost all plants of order Rosaceae, rose, poplar, willow, 

 sallow, birch, * laurel, laurustinus * (Merrin), osier (Bower), hawthorn 

 (Prideaux), Salix rubra (Linne), all kinds of poplar (Hellins) ; 

 Populus dilatata, P. tre??iula, P. balsamifera, Praxinus, Cotoneaster 

 (Siebke), birch* (Stainton), common laurel, laurustinus (Newman), 

 apple (Bacot), black poplar, Lombardy poplar (Ransom). 



Parasites. — Trogus lutorius, Fab. (Fitch), Paniscus testaceus, 

 Grav. (Marshall), Ichnemnon ptsorius, Linn. (Bouchd), Amblyteles 

 monitorius, Panz. (Giraud), A. proteus, Christ (Vollenhoven), 

 Cryptus fugitivus, Grav. (Fallou), Microplitis ocellatae, Bouche [62 

 examples of this parasite emerged from one larva sent by Fenn 

 to Bignell (Ent., xviii., p. 327), the usual number is from 12 to 20 

 (Bignell)]. 



Habits and habitat. — Some contradiction appears in the various 

 accounts as to the time of emergence of the imago, but although there 

 is some variation, it is essentially a species that emerges at night, 

 between 8 p.m. and 8 a.m. The imagines emerge late at night, 

 the usual time about midnight, although they may emerge as 

 early as 9.30 p.m., and as late as 8 a.m. (Bacot) ; in confinement 

 the moths always emerge in the early morning, before 9.30 a.m. 

 (Ransom); one emerged between 8 p.m. and 10 p.m., and remained 

 in the same position till the next evening at sundown (Cowl); the imago 

 emerges between 6 a.m. and 8 a.m. (Russell); imagines always emerge 

 before sunrise (Merrifield). By day the imago rests on the trunks and 

 branches of its various foodplants ; on trunks and small branches 

 of poplar, about Burnley (Clutten), also on the trunks of willow, 

 as well as poplar, at Nottingham (Wright) ; the $ rests on tree- 

 trunks, at about a foot from the ground, and remains there to pair 

 (Bartlett). Both sexes fly at dusk, and we have repeatedly taken the 

 $ s flying over the tops of the tall poplar hedges at Deal after 

 dark. The moth flies heavily at dusk, its flight slow and laboured, 

 like that of Manduca atropos, which I frequently saw on the wing 

 in India some years ago (Arbuthnott) ; both sexes fly at dusk; 



* Bacot attempted to rear larvae on birch and laurustinus, but the attempt 

 failed utterly, the larvae refusing to eat either of these reputed foodplants. 



