5072 Insects. 



Saturnia Pavonia-major four years in the Chrysalis. — For two or three nights we 

 were disturbed by a noise somethiug between a mill grinding and a cat purring, and 

 could not male out whether a ghost or mouse, or what other " something," had got 

 into the cabinet: on examining I found a much-crippled specimen of Saturnia Pavo- 

 nia-major. I was not aware that T had any pupae of this insect, and certainly must 

 have received it in 1851, when Mr. Wollastou gave me four or five specimens. I bred 

 three males and one female, and was not aware that one was left. I am quite sure I 

 had received no others during the live intervening years. — Id. 



Notodonta camelina not Double-brooded. — In the January number of the * Zoolo- 

 gist' (Zool. 4952) Mr. Crewe remarks, with reference to my note at page 4899, that I 

 seem "to infer that Notodonta camelina is not double-brooded," which, however, he 

 has proved to be the case, and gives, in support of his assertion, an account of four 

 eggs found by him on the 28th of May, which, on being taken " especial care of," 

 produced moths in the following August. Mr. Crewe does not appear to be aware 

 that many of our moths, when reared in confinement, will produce second broods in 

 the autumn ; but in order to prove that N. camelina is really double-brooded, he must 

 show that the species is also produced out of doors in the summer and autumn, from 

 the eggs laid the preceding spring ; in other words, that the four eggs he alludes to, 

 if he had left them on the bush, would have become moths in August, as they did in 

 his cage. Like Mr. Crewe, I have had the eggs of N. camelina laid in May, and 

 produced plenty of moths from them in July and August; but this is no argument 

 whatever in favour of the species being really double-brooded: probably the more 

 abundant supply of food, with less exercise than in the wild state, causes this prema- 

 ture development, just as a more scanty supply to the larva will retard the growth. Of 

 this latter I have had a rather curious instance in the case of Enuomos illunaria : it 

 is well known that the larvae of this species, from the eggs laid by the spring brood, 

 produce the small July specimens, the Juliaria of Haworth : if, however, these larvae 

 when young be scantily supplied with food, and their growth thereby retarded, they 

 will, if eventually fed more liberally, attain the full size of the autumn larvae, and 

 produce illunarias in the following spring. In conclusion, I will give a very common 

 instance in which confinement produces an autumnal brood. If the larvae of Arctia 

 Caja, hatched in July or August, be plentifully supplied with food, we always find a 

 number of the brood grow rapidly, attain full growth, and produce moths in the au- 

 tumn, while some of the same brood, in the same cage, probably still remain small : as 

 they pass the winter out of doors, the artificial manner of living must produce this 

 effect ; for I fancy our most inveterate brood-mongers never meet with this moth in 

 the autumn, nor see the full-grown larva galloping across their path in October, as 

 they do in May and June.— Edwin Shepherd ; Fleet Street, March 5, 1856. 



[I may state that I entirely concur with Mr. Shepherd in believing that Notodonta 

 camelina perfects but a single brood in the year, neither can I conceive that the case 

 is altered, or even modified, by the fact that some of the perfect insects are disclosed 

 months before the usual time. — Edward Newman.] 



Cheimatobia borearia in the South. — On the 10th of November last I had the 

 pleasure of capturing this species a few miles from this town : they were in consi- 

 derable numbers, hanging on the twigs of dwarf birches. I obtained both male and 

 female. On the same evening my friend Mr. Winter took two specimens, at light, in 

 this town. I have never before heard of this insect appearing so far South. — Henry 

 Cooke ; Brighton, February, 1856. 



