486 BRITISH LEPIDOPTERA. 



white eye-spots are folded in and almost invisible. When touched or 

 startled it arches the forepart of the body, brings its head down 

 underneath as far as the first pair of claspers, thus tightly stretching 

 the thoracic segments. The eye-spots are then fully displayed, 

 giving the larva a remarkable appearance, and there can be no doubt 

 that these spots are a means of protection to the larva. It cannot 

 defend itself, but one can imagine a bird or reptile being startled by a 

 sudden movement of the larva displaying two such brilliant false eyes. 

 It is unlikely, however, in this country, that any birds or reptiles prey 

 on it. The earliest dates on which I have found larvae were in July, 

 1900, a year in which they were later on extremely abundant; between 

 the 1 2th and 15th of July of that year I found six fullfed and exception- 

 ally fine specimens, which pupated about the 20th, and the moths 

 emerged between August 3rd and 9th. A friend of mine also found 

 some at this time. Since then I have often examined the oleanders 

 in July but have never found larvae, the usual time for their 

 occurrence here being in September and October. They are to be found 

 in August but do not become plentiful as a rule until towards the 

 middle of September. In 1899 and 1900, I found some during the 

 3rd week of August and great numbers in September; 1901 and 

 1902, were very bad years, the larvae being scarce (2 tullfed September 

 16th, 1902, none seen in August). This year (1903) they have been 

 fairly plentiful but late There were hardly any to be found in early 

 September, as I hear trom a friend who was collecting in Hyeres, 

 and even when I arrived on September 22nd there were not many. 

 However, by the end of the month they had become plentiful, especially 

 in the younger stages, and were abundant during the first fortnight 

 in October. I dM not look tor any after October 25th, but, on that 

 date, individuals at the beginning of the last stage were still to be 

 found. Last year (1902) I found three nearly fullfed larvae on 

 November 9th, and have even, occasionally, found larvae in the 3rd stage 

 in November. It is usual for the larvae of D. nerii to occur singly; 

 occasionally, however, two larvae of the same age and probably from 

 ova laid by the same female, are found on one tree. When the 

 species is abundant, as many as 4 or 6 larvae may be seen on the 

 same tree, but then they are never all exactly of the same age ; this 

 usually happens in the case of an isolated and attractive tree. I 

 have never found larvae upon Vinca, another reputed foodplant 

 (Powell). In confinement a larva in its last stadium was placed upon 

 a young potted oleander plant, when it at once made for the topmost 

 leaves ; it held tenaciously to its foodplant, possessed a voracious 

 appetite, and evidently preferred the young to the fullgrown leaves ; it 

 fed freely and systematically, finishing each leal in a workmanlike 

 manner, with the exception of the larger leaves, which it either did 

 not like so well or could not complete without leaving hold of the 

 stem, which the larva evidently did not care to do. When eating the 

 smaller leaves it would extend itself to the full, drag back the leaf 

 until it was bent nearly double to be held by the legs, when it 

 commenced feeding on one side at the tip, eating right across the 

 leaf, including the midrib. The leaf was bent backwards with the 

 upper- or underside uppermost, as was convenient. The larger 

 leaves were attacked at about the centre of one side, and the 

 larva fed backwards from thence evenly to the midrib, which it 



