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the friction of the joints of the pro thorax and mesothorax; 
this conclusion is, I think, much strengthened by the follow- 
ing circumstance : — 
A few weeks ago, when I was replacing some damp moss 
on some pupge, I heard the peculiar cry of the moth, but 
much weaker. On examining the pupse I soon selected the 
one from which the cry proceeded and placed it in the palm 
of my hand ; when at rest there was no sound, but the 
pupa at once produced it on being touched or pressed gently; 
on taking hold of it between the finger and thumb, if the 
head alone were confined, there was no sound, but if the 
tail, the motion of the joints was more energetic and the 
sound louder. 
In five days afterwards a very fine female moth emerged 
from the pupa, apparently none the worse for my experi- 
ments. 
Nothing beyond the bare fact of the pupa of Atropos 
sometimes uttering the sound has, I believe, been previously 
recorded, and it must be very rarely that it does so, as 
although I have reared scores of the moths I have never 
observed it before, nor do I know anyone who has done so. 
The fact of the pupa ever producing this cry must, I 
think, disprove all the ideas as to its being produced 
by expelling air through cavities, against a membrane, 
since in the pupa state all the muscles are as it were bound 
up in a horny case, and only those able to move which 
work the joints of the thorax and body, and besides this 
the amount of air which could be taken through the spiracles 
of the pupa would be obviously insufficient to produce such 
a volume of sound. 
It may be of interest to some of the members to know 
the plan I adopt in rearing Atropos from pupae. I take a 
large flower pot and fill it about one-third with light soil, 
on this I place the pupae, and cover them with damp moss ; 
on this pot I invert another of the same size, wrap these 
