424 BRITISH LEPIDOPTERA. 



tion of the very rare dark olive-red form ot the larva mentioned by 

 Stainton (Man., i., p. 89), the specimen described being taken at Rain- 

 ham, on potato, on August nth, 1894. Thorpe notes ( Ent., v., p. 143) 

 taking 120 larvae at Blackpool, in 1868, n of which were of the olive- 

 brown form, with darker lateral stripes (from these 45 imagines 

 were bred), whilst in August, 1869, 24 larvae were taken in the same 

 district, three being of the olive-brown form (20 of these had pupated 

 by September 28th, and between April 28th and May 28th, 1870, 

 14 $ s and 3cfs emerged). Anderson notes (Ent., xviii., p. 243) 

 a larva taken in August, 1885, which "was entirely minus the 

 caudal horn, the position where it should have been being decorated 

 with two bright yellow spots and a perpendicular black streak. " 

 Cocoon. — For pupation the larva goes down 8 or 10 inches 

 into the earth and there makes an oval chamber very much larger 

 than the enclosed pupa (Hellins). The puparia are made in earth 

 from earth ; there is no silk (or very little) in its structure, the inside 

 has the appearance and polish of damp earth that has been well 

 beaten (Reaumur). The puparium consists of a compact cell, the 

 earth composing which is mixed with gum discharged from the 

 mouth * of the larva and kneaded into a kind of paste or mortar 

 (Newman). The larva buries some inches below the surface, 

 and forms a large hollow cavity by opening or cementing the earth 

 over and around it, and so evidently obtains a more equable tem- 

 perature and amount of moisture (Jefferys). The vaulted puparium, 

 made several inches below the ground, is larger than a hen's egg, 

 the inside being made smooth and firm by means of a fluid passed 

 from the anus.* The larva does not change to a pupa for some 14- 

 16 days after it has made its puparium. The puparium is exceedingly 

 brittle, but, for emergence, the moth softens the pupal shell with an 

 acrid juice (Bartel). In nature, the puparium appears to be made 

 at a depth of about 6ins., the pupae being readily turned up by 

 the potato-plough and appears about midway in the furrow. In 

 captivity, the larvae sometimes pupate without hesitation upon the 

 surface of the earth. There is not the slightest cohesion in the 

 sides of the cell in which the larva of Manduca atropos pupates, and, 

 in only a few cases, was it possible to secure small pieces of the side 

 to examine ; there appears to be no trace of silk and very 

 little of gum used in its preparation. The chief thing 

 discoverable has been the impression of the face upon the 

 inner surface, which was fairly smooth save for these impressions, 

 and looks as if the inside of the puparium is smoothed by the 

 larva pushing its head against it. It is totally impossible to extract 

 a puparium whole. The cavity is formed horizontally and appears 

 to provide plenty of room for the pupa to bend and turn, though 

 there is little to spare in the length (Burrows). Sharp notes (Ent., 

 xxix., p. 327) that the larvae do not make puparia of a solid 

 character, but each one, about an inch or two below the surface, 

 reduces the soil to a very nice uniform condition of fineness, for 

 an area of a quarter of an inch or more around itself ; this prepared 

 soil is only fastened together so very lightly that a very slight 



* These remarks want careful comparison; one suspects that one of them, at 

 any rate, must be erroneous, The fluid used is not likely to come both from the 

 " mouth " and the " auus." 



