iSgi.] 



THE BRITISH NATURALIST. 



265 



same warm quarters, and soon had the satisfaction of seeing that the 

 greater part, if not all, would feed up. From this time they increased 



' in size very irregularly, a few not feeding at all and others very 

 sparingly, but by the 20th of September I had upwards of 25 full fed, 

 and these I again moved into well-ventilated cages containing some 

 light peaty earth, into which they soon began to disappear. On 

 turning out the cages later on, I found that these had produced 20 

 pupae, a few having died in the operation of changing. About the 

 middle of October some of the smaller larvae began to show signs of 

 having had enough of it and a dozen or eighteen of these died off, 

 whilst some of the remainder did not seem disposed to allow 

 themselyes to be hurried, and fed very slowly; so slowly that at the 

 time of writing I have still 14 feeding on plantain, though these are 

 all just about full fed. In all, up to date, I have obtained 25 pupse 

 and if 1 can get another dozen from the rest of the larvae I shall be 

 very well satisfied. 



The first imago appeared on the 28th October and at the present 

 time I have had about 16 out. I was rather doubtful as to whether 



■ the moths would suffer from being subjected to such heat, but they 

 are quite as large as and better marked than those I took wild. 



The larvae do not seem specially difficult to manage, and are 

 content with a variety of food. At first I fed them on various willows 



I and when that became scarce, on knot grass, heather, bindweed, and 

 lastly oil plantain. They vary very little, mostly in the ground 

 colour, which is sometimes nearly black, but generally darkish green. 

 In one case the black patches on the back were reduced to about a 

 third of the usual size, but this was the only variation I noticed. — 

 L. S. Brady, Sunderland. 



C. Haworthii in Ireland. — C. Hawovthii is widely spread all 

 over Ireland. I have taken it wherever I have been in suitable 

 localities in the East, West, Central, and Northern tracts of heather; 

 viz.: — Dublin and Wicklow mountains; Westmeath bogs; Oxhill 

 range. County Sligo; und on Donegal moors. It flies on sunny days, 

 (it is said to affect the plumes of bog cotton, but I have never taken 

 it thus,) and at dusk, when I have taken it freely about mid-August. 

 The larva I have seen in the roots of bog cotton plants, even well 

 below the surface in very wet marshes. I think the end of June is 

 about the best season to work for them, by digging up the roots of 



