THE YOUNG NATURALIST. 



229 



Notodonta irepida hatched on June 24th. I have not had much experi- 

 ence with them, but should say they are difficult larvae to rear, as the 

 greater part of mine died while young, and others when nearly full-fed, from 

 some unknown cause, as I took every precaution to ensure their welfare, 

 which perhaps may explain my not succeeding, as you can easily be too care- 

 ful in one sense, viz., constantly removing all the old food, as some larvae 

 appear to prefer it when withered, and others to eat first fresh food, then 

 withered, as a kind of digestive, therefore keep your larvae boxes clean and 

 sweet, but not entirely destitute of a few withered leaves of their food-plant. 

 But whether too careful or too careless all my larvae but one died, much to 

 my disappointment. This went down on October 18th. 



Liparis dispar hatched on May 13th, from all the ova deposited from 

 females bred last summer, which I retained for myself. I have given a his- 

 tory of this race in a previous volume of this magazine (vide Y.N., Yol. viii., 

 p. 230). This year has been the most remarkable one for this species. On 

 October 21st, I had eight larvae still feeding on withered food, there being 

 no fresh procurable, which has since proved fatal to them. These were little 

 more than half-grown, though the greater percentage of the same brood 

 pupated about the end of August which was very late ; but imagine larvae of 

 a July insect, which emerged the second week in May, feeding at the end of 

 October ! I have only had one male out, and that was on September 24th. 

 1 am in a dilemma with the others, as I cannot believe they will remain all 

 the winter in pupa, though they are alive now, and turn about in their 

 slender cocoons in the very peculiar manner that this species has, and which 

 is noticed by Kirby and Spence, in their " Introduction to Entomology/' 

 Yol. II., p. 295. I have placed them in a warm room to try and force them, 

 and will report the result in due course, but am afraid it will be nil. 



Dasychira pudibunda hatched on July 19th. They are imperceptible 

 growers. They certainly have grown considerably since hatched, but if you 

 look at them every day or two they never seem to exhibit the slightest differ- 

 ence, it is such a gradual growth that you never pereeive it. Mine have fed 

 up on plum, and are now (November 3rd) just spinning their cocoons, and 

 only just in time, as not a leaf is left on the trees. Dr. Chapman writes me 

 that if you wish to pair this species you must place the female and male out 

 of doors, and trust to find them in copula, which 1 expect will not be very 

 hard to do, as the female is very sluggish and very seldom flies. 



Western curtula hatched on July 6th, and fed between united leaves 

 during the whole of their existence, they do not eat the leaves they have joined 

 but use them as a retreat in which to hide. These larvae are very quick 

 growers as a rule, but I had only one brood with mine this year, so they 



