MANDUCA ATROPOS. 443 



(Ent. Mo. Mag., xxix., p. 213) a specimen on June ist, 1893, coming 

 from a bee-hive at Kibworth, covered with bees which were pushing it 

 out of the entrance • he adds that it squeaked loudly but appeared to 

 be unable to fly. Storer also records one found in a bee-hive at 

 Mountsorrel, near Leicester, whilst Gordon states (in litt.) that he 

 found one trying to enter a bee-hive at Quhillart, Corsemalzie, on 

 July 14th, 1898. Bartel notes (Pal. Gross-Schmett., ii., p, 20) that, 

 in Italy, where apiculture flourishes, and M. atropos is locally 

 very common, it does great damage by breaking into the hives. 

 We do not know Bartel's authority for this statement (unless 

 it be the Bienenzeitu?ig, i860, p. 108), but, in a German 

 magazine (Prometheus, xiii., p. 187), Hermes details at length 

 that, whilst at Rovigno, in September and October, 1901, 

 he saw a hive of bees that had built their cells between a 

 closed blind and window-pane in a house, the structure they 

 had built measuring 40cm. by 40cm. by 15cm. ; the work of the 

 bees could be watched, many cells of the hive were full of 

 honey and sealed with wax, and specimens of Manduca atropos got 

 into the hive, through openings in the blind, during twilight and 

 through the night, pilfered the honey, failed to find the opening 

 by which they had entered and were imprisoned. On October 

 ist, large numbers of imprisoned moths were noticed and Dr. 

 Schaudinus, of the Zoological Station near, removed above 100 

 specimens, of which 35 were in good enough condition to be set. 

 Daily, after that, 4 or 5 were captured, and in the daytime they appeared 

 to be much disturbed by the bees ; after the 13th, none appeared for a 

 time but two were taken as late as November ist, 154 specimens 

 altogether being captured. Nearly as interesting is Miss Barrett's 

 record (Ent. Mo. Mag., xxxvi., p. 141) that a specimen of M. 

 atropos was attacked by bees when attempting to get into the 

 comb high among the rafters in her house at Buntingville, 

 Transkei, in South Africa, and she further remarks that, whilst the 

 bees were attempting to sting it, it uttered its well-known cry ; 

 a second was caught at a bees' nest in the other wing of the 

 house, but this had settled quietly where the honey sometimes 

 runs down the wall ; more examples were found later, always at or 

 near the bees' nests, those found by day settled quietly in the 

 window-frame with the bees buzzing round in a rage, whilst one 

 was found at night, by searching with a light, settled under 

 the bees' nest. This lady had previously stated (Joe. cit., xxxiv., 

 p. 240) that the species was in ill-repute with bee-keepers in South 

 Africa, but Campbell appears to have been the first to call attention 

 to the visits of the moths to beehives in South Africa ("Travels 

 in South Africa," Quarterly Review, 1815, p. 315). Rickard thinks 

 (Ent., xxx., p. 24) that the reason why imagines are so 

 rarely found in bee-hives in England is to be found in 

 the construction of the hives. Atmore says (Ent. Pec, ix., 

 p. 23) that a large battered imago was given him on July 

 1 8th, 1896, by a friend, whose bees it had alarmed by entering 

 one of the hives ; the swarm appears to have been a weak one 

 and the moth put the bees to flight. Corbett notes (Nat., 1901, 

 p. 255) an imago, found in a bee-hive on June 7th, 1901, at 

 Blaxton. Britten records (Ent. Pec, xiv., p. 163) the capture of 



