5826 Insects. 



condition ; and I would recommend the posessors to adjust the price to the increased 

 supply, in which case every lepidopterist will become a willing purchaser. — Edward 

 Newman. 



Double-broodedness of Notodonta. — The discussion which took place in the pages 

 of the ' Zoologist ' last year on the double-broodedness of the Notodontae did not 

 appear likely to produce any satisfactory result until additional data were obtained. 

 I had at that time about seventy pupae of N. ziczac, the produce of autumnal moths, 

 which were obtained from the spring brood, and which I determined to apply to ob- 

 taining additional data. The imago from these began to emerge the beginning of 

 May, and by the end of that month they had ceased to appear. About the latter end 

 of June I carefully examined every cocoon, and found six pupae dead ; the moths from 

 four others had got entangled in the cocoon, and were also dead ; the rest had 

 emerged ; not one remained over. When the sexes met, these moths invariably 

 paired, and supplied about sixteen hundred eggs, most of which were distributed ; 

 and I learn that several of my correspondents secured from them the autumnal brood, 

 and have now a good store of pupae. I continued my own experiments by selecting 

 eggs from various batches; and again, in July, I had about fifty pupae, the moths 

 from which emerged during the last week in that month and the first week in August. 

 When these had for some time ceased to appear I again carefully examined the 

 cocoons, and found one shrivelled pupa, and two moths entangled and dead ; all the 

 others had emerged. This last brood always paired when allowed to do so, and pro- 

 duced fertile eggs. Surely Mr. E. Shepherd will admit that these experiments have 

 been on a sufficiently extended scale, and will not, in reference to them, speak about 

 one swallow not making a summer. It may not be out of place here to add that I do 

 not find, as in Mr. Doubleday's case, the autumnal brood " small and faint in colour ; " 

 they are quite equal in size and intensity of marking to the spring brood ; indeed, I 

 see no difference whatever. The larva? in both cases were reared on growing plants 

 from the moment they left the eggs, and were not removed into confinement until 

 indications of change to pupa appeared. A few words about Notodonta dictaea : — Mr. 

 Doubleday says (Zool. 5166) that he " never saw an autumnal specimen of Carmelita, 

 trepida, dictaea or dictaeoides." I have now (August 29) a female dictaea busy laying 

 her eggs ; she was bred from a larva taken full-grown at the end of July ; at the same 

 time I took six smaller ones; and in another part of the country I took five more, be- 

 sides a male attracted by the female above mentioned. Thus thirteen instances of the 

 second brood of dictaea, the produce of at least four or five maternal parents, have 

 casually fallen to one collector the same year. The autumn brood does not, therefore, 

 appear so rare as Mr. Doubleday's remark would imply. Here, also, is the proof 

 asked for by Mr. E. Shepherd, namely, that the spring moths are the parents of the 

 autumn-produced individuals: he admits (Zool. 5293) that if this be proved the chain 

 of evidence is complete. Mr. C. R. Bree informs me that he has "some fresh-turned 

 pupae of dictaea, the produce of a female reared from eggs laid by another female in 

 May." It will be seen from the above facts that the two broods of both N. ziczac and 

 N. dictaea are fertile. Now, Mr. Doubleday says (Zool. 5765), and Mr. Newman 

 "exactly coincides" with him: — " I believe the females of some species are mostly 

 barren when disclosed in the autumn, but when there are two distinct broods of a spe- 

 cies, a vernal and autumnal brood, both are fertile." If, then, where there are not two 

 distinct broods the autumnal disclosures are barren, and where there are two distinct 

 broods both are fertile, it follows that, ziczac and dictaea appearing in spring and 





