94 



THE YOUNG NATURALIST. 



[May 



think not, 1 found them full fed on September ist, on my first visit 

 there in 1888, and should doubtless have found some earlier had I been 

 sooner there. One day before would have brought me into the last 

 week in August. At Kingsdown, Mr. Porritt and I found on 31st 

 August, larvae almost full fed, and that district had been well worked 

 by Mr. Meek some days before, when he took some 150 larvae. At 

 this place Galium mollugo was the most abundant food plant, and we 

 could see the tangled masses had been turned over, and pretty well 

 skimmed too. But Mr. Cooper saw no pupa in Suffolk, and only sup- 

 posed they were in pupa because he saw a quantity of frass and could 

 not find any larvae. This is very different to saying they were actually 

 in pupa at the time. I do not know if Mr. Briggs has any experience 

 in working for galii larvae on sandhills, but you may often find plenty 

 of frass, when no larvae are in sight, simply because they have buried 

 in the sand, but if you pass that way again in the morning sunshine, 

 you will probably find them up and feeding again. This I found re- 

 peatedly in 1888 on the Deal sandhills. Possibly I bred more galii 

 than all the rest of the south eastern collectors put together last year. 

 All my pupae were forced, to the extent of bringing them into a living 

 room, having fire and gas, with perhaps an average temperature of 70 

 degrees, until April, when those still remaining were placed in a cool 

 greenhouse, and every living pupa had emerged by July. 

 Not one remained to lie over, so that it would appear to lie over is the 

 exception, not the rule. To fit Mr. Briggs' theory, not only should it 

 be the rule for them to lie over for a year or two, but for ten years or 

 more, the great galii years in this Country being 1859, 1870, 1888. 

 Between these dates our journals would be searched in vain for records 

 of galii larvae. 



Just a word as to my "generalisation" as to their being ichneu- 

 moned, &c. I had 200 larvae of galii in 1888, collected around Deal 

 over an area 20 miles long, and 4 to 5 miles broad ; a pretty good area. 

 But not a single specimen of any larvce showed the slightest signs of ich- 

 neumon ov other parasite. I lost a good many by fungus, and still have 

 the dead pupae showing the fungoid growth. I think this fully justi- 

 fies my remark that they were remarkably free from ichneumon. I 

 certainly do not say they are never so attacked, I know of two ichneu- 

 mon being bred from galii. 



With this I will conclude. Mr. Briggs, I well know, as well as 



