1880. J 
43 
myself made sure that six is the number for some, and nine for others as in the 
instance of JSola centonalis ; but I never recorded so few as one, the allowance which 
has been meted out to Sphinx ligustri* nor so many as ten or ttvelve, the number 
with which Chelonia caja and Litkosia caniola have been respectively credited. 
Any one, who has made notes on which he can depend about the growth of any 
species he has reared, would I think do good service by publishing them, even if he 
has nothing else to say about the larvie ; and those, who are just about to take fresh 
broods in hand, would help to settle the question for each species, if they would 
isolate examples of each brood, and accurately record the changes noticed. I know 
this would be troublesome, but I do not see how otherwise we can get upon sure 
ground in this matter : I should be glad to see records of the commonest things — 
M. brasaicce, S. luhricepeda, or M. fluctuate — so that they were accurate. 
Da\ly inspection will be needful, and the approach of a moult and its accomplish- 
ment may at once be known by the appearance of the head of the larva ; before the 
moult it seems too small and stretched forward from the neck — after the moult it 
comes out in extra width as compared to the second segment, with its colours distinct. 
—William Buckler, Emsworth : June 10th, 1880. 
7 anessa ccirdui double brooded. — Most entomologists have commented upon the 
extraordinary appearance of V. cardui in 1879, advancing various theories as to 
whether many of them did not migrate from the continent to this country. Con- 
cerning this I do not wish to give an opinion ; I only know that the swarms that 
began to appear in this neighbourhood about the middle of August were certainly 
bred in the country, coming out as they did, without a sign of travel upon them, 
during the few hot days which occurred at that season. And these, moreover, cor- 
responded with the unusual numbers of larvse which were to be found upon the 
thistles at the end of July. They were in far greater numbers than I ever remember 
having noticed before. flhe larvse then found were feeding on the full-grown thistles, 
nearly always high up the stem, and near the flowers. Soon after these had com- 
pleted their changes, and had emerged as beautiful insects in the imago state, there 
came some high winds off the sea, and withered the thistles, which, by that time, 
had run to seed, and thus the chance of finding more larvse appeared to have passed 
away. About the 1st of October, however, and for the next fortnight, I began to 
find them again, but not in their former situation. These new larvse were on the 
young seedling thistles which remain, without shooting up, flat upon the ground till 
next season. On the back of the leaves, lying close to the surface of the ground, I 
found several young larvse, some half-a-dozen of which I kept and fed up, and others 
I gave away. I had some curiosity to ascertain when these unseasonable little 
creatures would arrive at maturity, as the weather was then cold, and might at any 
time have changed to frost. Between the 18th and the 20th of October, most of 
them changed into the pupa state, and, on November 20th, one of them emerged as 
a perfect V. cardui, in every respect as fine as those hatched in August. The rest 
failed to come to matuiity. These facts, I think, seem to prove that in some cases 
this insect was double-brooded last year : whether they are usually so I will not 
venture to say ; but these late ones, from the time they appeared in the larva state, 
* N.B. — Albin records of a brood of Sphinx ligustri, which he reared from the egg, that they 
moulted four times in thoir course. 
