5404 Insects. 



specimens having been taken here last August. Can Mr. Shepherd account for this 

 August brood? Besides N. dictaea we find N. dictaeoides, N. ziczac, and N. camelina 

 occur in August as well as in May. I fancy it is a long time for a single brood to last 

 from May lo September, as both Mr. Naish and myself have taken N. dictaea in the 

 latter month this season. Besides, if they are only single-brooded, what becomes of 

 them during the greater part of June and July? Perhaps Mr. Shepherd could 

 enlighten me. — George Harding, jun. ; Stapleton, Bristol, November 12, 1856. 



Double-broodedness of Notodontce. — Mr. Shepherd says that to complete my chain 

 of evidence that N. dictaea is double-brooded I must " prove that the moths which 

 emerge in May are the parents of those found in July." Now this fact has been so 

 fully proved by Mr. Crewe, with respect to many of the Notodontae, that it hardly 

 needs any further confirmation ; but knowing that Mr. Gascoyne had bred N. ziczac 

 pretty freely, I wrote to him, asking him if he could confirm Mr. Crewe's letter. The 

 following is Mr. Gascoyne's reply, dated November 5th: — "I have no hesitation in 

 answering your enquiry in the affirmative. The correspondence now going on as to 

 the double-broodedness of the Notodontae seems to arise less from facts being ques- 

 tioned than from a difference as to what these shall be called, yet perhaps the following 

 may not be unacceptable. I have at this time two sets of pupa? of N. ziczac, probably 

 about seventy in number ; these are in direct descent from moths of last May ; the first 

 brood of larvae assumed the pupa3 state the middle of July, the moth (second brood) 

 appearing the beginning of August : eggs from those, the produce of two pairs (each 

 set numbering about 110), hatched in four or five days, and the larvae assumed the 

 pupae the latter end of September. I feel no hesitation in saying that I could con- 

 tinue to breed moths in May and August for years to come (accident excepted). The 

 dates of the respective states appear thus: — imago, May and July; larva full-fed, 

 July and September; pupa, July and winter. It thus appears that, while the winter 

 pupa remains in that state eight months, the summer one passes it in about a fortnight. 

 J may add that all the July pupae emerged : none remained over. I am satisfied the 

 same is the case with N. camelina : I had the imago alive in June last, from larvae 

 taken the previous autumn, and again bred it in August from larva? fed during July; 

 part of the latter brood is still in pupae, doubtless a provision of Nature to meet 

 casualties to the autumn brood." I may add, with respect to N. dictaea, never having 

 bred them from the egg, I cannot from personal knowledge give the required informa- 

 tion ; but this link in the chain is amply filled up by other gentlemen. The mere fact 

 of many of the pupae of the Notodontae remaining over from one year to another does 

 not, in my opinion, prove much, as Mr. Gascoyne tells me that he has now the pupas 

 of S. Carpini, which attained that state last autumn. Mr. Shepherd would hardly 

 argue from this fact that S. Carpini is biennial-brooded. — Arthur Naish; Brooklyn 

 Lodge, Ashley Hill, Bristol, November 7, 1856. 

 The Notodontce not double -brooded. — 



" Truth can never be confirm'd enough, 

 Though doubts did ever sleep." — Shakespeare. 

 Doubts are considerably troublesome to many people ; I wish I had none myself. 

 Those who, on any subject, have no doubt in their own minds are in a very enviable 

 position; and to do anything to disturb such a desirable condition appears un- 

 generous, if not somewhat cruel. I wish to make a few observations upon the 

 so called double-broodedness of Clostera reclusa, Notodonta camelina, N. ziczac, 

 N. dictaea and N. dromedarius, insisted on so strongly in the 'Zoologist,' at pp. 4952, 



