162 



Ukcember, 



The next deduction is that the larvcB are hatched in the autumn, 

 and Mr. D'Orville suggests that perhaps they hybernate— retiring 

 underground for j)rotectiou from cold ; but this I am inclined to doubt, 

 thinking rather that if the weather permits they feed up before winter, 

 but that if frost sets in they die prematurely. 



And lastly, Mr. D'Orville concludes, that the moth itself does not 

 hybernate, but dies about the end of September. He has his garden full 

 of flowers, for the purpose of attracting moths, at all seasons of the year 

 when there are flowers to be had, and he is most indefatigable in watch- 

 ing for l{3pidopterous visitors of all kinds, and yet he has, in a period of 

 eleven or twelve years, never once seen convolvuli, save in the months 

 of August and September, although their especial favourites — the white 

 Petunia and the Marvel of Peru, remain in full bloom nearly through- 

 out October, and would still supply them with food. And I remember 

 myself finding in a bed of white Petunias, in 1858, a dead specimen of 

 the moth, which had apparently come to a natural end, without violence. 

 It is but fair to say that, on looking through the ten volumes of the 

 *' Intelligencer," I find two instances recorded of the capture of the moth 

 about IMidsummer ; yet in the face of the overwhelming majority of 

 autumn captures, these instances must be regarded quite exceptioual. 



As to the British origin of his specimens Mr. D'Orville has no 

 doubt ; some of them, as I can testify, were so fine, with the fringes of 

 the wings so perfect, that they could not have flown many hours before 

 he took them. The larvsB or pupae, therefore, must have been in hiding 

 near at hand, and yet his off'er of a reward for either has never pro- 

 duced any result. 



I will only add (without comment— serious or joking) that on 

 measuring the tongues of five or six moths, I found them to vary in 

 length from 2f to 3j inches, the males apparently being longer tongued 

 than the females. 



Exeter : November 11th. 



Sphinx convolvuli at Alloa, N. B. — I liave to inform you that a very fine spe- 

 cimen of Sjphinx convolvuli was brought me on the 5th of this month. It was got 

 at rest in a garden here ; it measures about five inches across the \\'ings, and with 

 the exception of being a httle rubbed from being carried in the hand, is a perfect 

 specimen. There was also one captured at StirHng, about seven miles from here, 

 on the 1st of the month. — Richard Borthwick, Alloa, October 16th, 1868. 



Sphinx convolvuli, and a second specimen of Deilephila lineata in Kildarc. — I 

 captured five fine convolvuli here, in September. They were all taken at a bed of 

 Petunias in the dusk of the evening. Another specimen of lineata was taken by 

 me the day after I reported the former capture to you. It was on the grass lawn, 

 alive, at the middle of the day, and one of our peacocks attempted to eat it. — 

 JoifN Douglas, KiJkea Castle, Kildare, Ociohcr 26tU, 18G8. 



