THE YOUNG NATURALIST. 



237 



xMong the Kentish coast, and notably on the Deal sandhills, this grand larva 

 has occurred in most unusual numbers, any suitable place all over the district 

 i.e. : where its food-plant Galium verum or G. mollugo grew there, a careful 

 search revealed the larvae, not only close to the sea, as some collectors seem 

 to think, but also miles inland by road sides, as well as open ground, even 

 basking on exposed footways. Another idea is that they were only to be 

 found on small or isolated patches of the plant, but this by no means hold 

 good, especially in their younger stages. Then they were generally, in my 

 experience, to be obtained on luxuriant patches of the plant. I found most 

 of my smaller larvae under such conditions. Afterwards, and when nearly 

 full grown, they certainly do seem to prefer more open places, where by 

 exposure the plants get dwarfed, and they can enjoy fully the direct ray of 

 the sun. When quite full-grown they are very fond of extending themselves on 

 the bare and warm sand, in fact their polished backs get quite hot, which 

 they evidently enjoyed. Anyone would imagine that so large and strongly 

 marked a larva could not be overlooked, and that one could clear them all off 

 by one good search, but such was by no means the case, as evidently when 

 not feeding or basking they hide away most effectually, I always thought they 

 possibly buried themselves and this we found was the case, for two or three 

 were discovered almost covered with sand, a few seconds more and they would 

 have been quite lost to view. During my stay at Deal (three weeks) our 

 take of this grand larvse amounted to nearly 200, which fortunately we were 

 enabled to feed up there, and thus obtain a daily fresh supply of Galium. The 

 quantity required being very considerable, certainly in all my experience I 

 never met with larvae that ate more ravenously, or fed up so rapidly as these, 

 but it was no joke to keep them supplied with food. Many of the visitors 

 at Deal doubtless gave me credit for very poor taste in culling a wild flower 

 bouquet, for we daily came home armed with huge bunches of Galium, not 

 certainly particularly beautiful to look at, but very necessary for the numerous 

 hungry larvae we had to cater for. This daily supply of fresh Galium verum 

 enabled me to get most of the larvae safely into pupae, and provided only that 

 T can as successfully get them into the imago state, many a blank will be 

 filled in my friends cabinets with this beautiful insect. — W. H. Tugwell, 

 Greenwich, 22nd October, 1888. 



D. Galii Bred. — I have been fortunate in breeding ten B. galii from the 

 larvae taken at New Brighton. Seven are splendid specimens, but three are 

 cripples. As I mentioned in my last communication I have kept them in a warm 

 kitchen. — Samull J. Capper, Huyton Park, Huyton, Liverpool, Nov. 25th, 

 1888. 



