208 
THE entomologist’s RECORD. 
Xylophasia polyodon^ Mta^iu strigilis, Triphana jafithina^ T. orbona, 
T. pronuba^ Ncenia typica^ Hadena oleracea^ and other common species. 
I am looking forward to taking Cirrhcedia xera 77 ipdina the week after 
next. — H. Shortridge Clarke, 2, Osborne Terrace, Douglas. August 
jgfh, 1891. 
Notes on Breeding Agrotis lunigera. — On July 22nd, 1890, I 
took some A. lunigera at Portland, and, finding that five of the $ ’s 
were too worn to set, I placed them in a bandbox with some honey 
on a small piece of sponge, to try and get ova. I looked at them 
every day but could not see any eggs, and, at the end of ten days 
(three of the moths having died meanwhile), I let the survivors go, 
and thought that the experiment was a failure, until, being about to 
throw away the sponge used for the honey, I happened to notice some 
ova therein, and on examining it carefully, was surprised to find that 
the cells of the sponge were full of eggs which had evidently been 
deposited by the moths as far inside as they could reach, and as much 
concealed as possible. There were no eggs on the outside of the 
sponge. I had not placed any foodplant in the box, as, at the time, 
I was not certain of what it consisted, and as the box was simply a 
cardboard one with smooth sides, the sponge was the only place 
affording concealment ; or were the eggs deposited in the sponge 
because it was the only thing available in the nature of food ? 
The ova commenced to hatch out on August 3rd, and were fed on 
dandelion leaves ; on this commencing to fail at the end of September, 
I gave them slices of carrot, which they took to all right, and 
continued this diet until the dandelion was again available in the 
spring. The larvae continued to feed from August right through the 
w'inter up to the end of April, that is to say, some of them did, as 
the slices of carrot were always eaten more or less even during the 
severe weather of last winter. They were kept in two large flower-pots 
under an open window facing the north, and led an entirely subter- 
ranean life, the four inches of earth in the pots being honeycombed 
by their burrow’s. I often looked at the pots after dark, but never saw’ 
any larvae on the surface, except once when their food was short, and 
a few were wandering about looking for more, when, on seeing my 
light, they immediately retreated into their holes backwards. The 
food, too, was invariably eaten from the bottom, never on the top or 
edge, the slices of carrot being scooped out on the underside. On 
several occasions I noticed a dandelion leaf sticking straight up in the 
pot, having apparently been grasped in the centre and partially 
dragged into the hole occupied by the larva, just as if it had been 
bent and forcibly stuck into the ground. The full-fed larvae agreed 
with the description given in Newman, except that they were decidedly 
ochreous in colour (was this due to the carrot diet ?), and that they had 
the usual Noctua dark triangular mark on each segment. 
I stopped giving them food on April 30th, and, on looking at the 
pots on May 25th, there were eight larvae on the surface, apparently 
dried up, but on looking again on May 31st, these eight had evidently 
just turned to pupae, which were cream coloured all over. They 
gradually changed to a deep red colour, the red commencing at either 
end and extending inw^ards, a white band round the centre of the 
pupae remaining visible for some days — the last trace of white not 
