DAPHNIS NERII. 253 



of a sickness the origin of which is probably due to the damp cold 

 weather of the summer and autumn nights. The larvae were taken 

 in some numbers by Standfuss, at Breslau, in August, 1893, on 

 Vinca major and V. minor, by Borcherding at Bremen, and by 

 Romanoff in Transcaucasia." Hering states that in hot summers 

 the larvae have been abundant enough in Stettin to do damage 

 to the oleanders in gardens. Caradja notes that his gardener 

 found larvae in numbers on Nerium oleander at Rome, and he 

 surmises that, as the larva will eat Vinca major and V. minor, the 

 species may become common in central (and perhaps northern) 

 Europe, even to the extent of occurring annually, as does Mandnca 

 atropos at the present time. Klooss gives (III. Woch. fur Ent, \., 

 p. 483) the following interesting details of the larval habits : Four 

 eggs and eight larvae (hatched during the journey) from Malfi (Dal- 

 matia), received July 27th, another egg hatched on the 28th, the other 

 three eggs died. The larvae were reared the first 10 days in a glass with 

 a double covering of muslin kept constantly somewhat damp. The 

 food at first consisted of the tender terminal shoots of oleander and 

 leaves of Vinca minor, carefully cleaned from dust ; both plants 

 being greedily eaten, the larvae growing with extraordinary rapidity. 

 From the 10th day onwards they were placed under a wire-gauze 

 covering at an average temperature of 22 C. and in moist air. 

 Freshly-cut succulent food was given twice a day. They developed 

 a tremendous appetite and fed up rapidly. On August nth, one 

 larva went under the moss, lying on a layer of sand for pupation, 

 and, on the 16th, the last larva similarly disappeared ; the larvae 

 pupated in from 3-4 days. Swinton notes that the larvae taken 

 at Jerusalem — both green and brown forms — concealed themselves 

 beneath the leaves of the double garden oleanders in a marvellous 

 way, and so that they could only be discovered by their droppings. 

 Those kept in confinement pupated at the commencement of July 

 and the imagines emerged at the close of the day, between July 

 21st and 26th. Chaumette records the larvae as very common 

 at Saugor, in India, on March 3rd, 1865, on Nerhtm oleander and 

 Tabernaemontana coronaria. Constant says that the larvae are some- 

 times common, and at other times apparently absent, in the 

 Riviera, that, in 1900, they were fairly common from August to 

 December, and that from the pupse of these some imagines emerged 

 in autumn, whilst others attempted to pass the winter and perished. He 

 says that the larva is easily seen on Nerium oleander, that it sits right 

 up on the branches, and, "eating like a rabbit," denudes them conspicu- 

 ously (in lift.), a remarkable observation apparently directly opposed to 

 that of Swinton (supra). Costick records ( Ent. Wk. Int., vii., p. 140) 

 the capture of two larvae of D. nerii near Eastbourne, one on October 

 1 2th, the other on October 18th, 1859. He states that they fed 

 very well until November, when they became sluggish and ultimately 

 died. He writes : " At first I was inclined to think the larvae 

 were those of A. atropos, the larva of which is sometimes, though 

 rarely, found of a brownish-olive, but, on closer inspection, I observed 

 a difference in the anal horn, that the larvae were of a lighter green, 

 and that each had two large ocellated spots. They were found in a 

 field of potatoes in which periwinkle grows, and upon which they 

 fed very eagerly just before they died, and also upon the oleander 



