MANDUCA ATROPOS. 459 



1 6th and November 17th, 1883, and caught imagines, at light, at the end 

 of September and commencement of October in 1889, at Carlsruhe and 

 September 27th, 1896, and the following days, at the same place. 

 Bartel says {Pal. Gross-Schmett., ii., p. 19) that, in southern 

 countries, the larvae are to be found continuously from July to 

 December and early January, he also states that the imagines 

 emerge in central Europe from the end of July to October 

 (but in southern countries in November and December), whilst 

 hybernating pupae disclose their imagines from April to mid-July. 

 That the occurrence of the species in central Europe is much the 

 same as in Britain is shown by the following records : June and 

 again in October at Schwerin, May-June and September-October at 

 Halle, in the spring very rare, in September-October, abundant at 

 Leipzig, in May-June and September-October in Thuringia, in May 

 and then very abundantly in September-October in Alsace, in May-June 

 and September-October at Eperies and Budapest, in May-June and again 

 in August in the Haute-Garonne. The Tuscany record — May, 

 rare and again from August-October commonly — is not unlike our 

 own, but there are records for " end ot May," " September-October," 

 and " December," for Sicily, where evidently southern conditions 

 begin to prevail. The southern localities give " commencement of 

 May" for Algeria, "April" for Fiume, " May " for Chiclana, &c, 

 and May specimens are also recorded for Frankfort-on-Main, but they 

 probably only mean immigrants corresponding with our own earliest 

 recorded examples. In Roumania, August and September are noted, 

 at Aix-les-Bains, July and August, in Transcaucasia, July to September, 

 whilst the Eutin records are July to November. Fritsch gives 

 dates varying from August 9th-November 12th, mainly, however, in 

 September and October, for Austro-Hungary ; he also has a record 

 from Oberhaag for March 1 6th, and one from Weissbriach from which 

 he draws the remarkable conclusion that the moth appears to hybernate, 

 an idea hinted at by Reaumur ( Memoires, ii., p. 296) but without 

 evidence; Aigner-Abafi quotes a few spring dates for Hungary, viz., 

 May 3oth-July 14th at Budapest, June at CEdenburg, end of April for 

 Fiume ; he adds, however, that it is most abundant from the com- 

 mencement of September to the middle of October, e.g., August 10th- 

 October 14th at Budapest, August ist-8th at Fiinfkirchen, &c. He puts 

 (Jllus. Ze its. fur Ent., iv., p. 211) the pupal period of the earliest- 

 formed pupae at 3 weeks, the late pupae, he says, hybernate, the pupal 

 stage lasting 286-290 days, but these pupae he says rarely produce 

 imagines unless forced. We may add that Ochsenheimer [Die 

 Schmett., ii., p. 236) records a case in which the pupal stage lasted 

 j \\ months. Hudak gives dates from September 3rd to October 18th, 

 for Golnitz, and Himsl notes September and again in mid-November for 

 Upper Austria; Bachmetjew says that the insect is rare in Sofia in 

 June, but sometimes common in October. The mass of the German, 

 Austrian and French records, however, are for July - August, 

 or August - September, or August - October, and one suspects 

 that a study of our own detailed records will give as good ground 

 for generalisation as those of Germany, Austria, or France, but 

 neither the appearance of the species in our own, nor those in other 

 countries, have been kept with sufficient accuracy to be of real scientific 

 service. One point, however, bearing strongly on the view that the 



