found a batch of ova, next day another, and for two more days a 
further deposit — in all about 800 eggs. Having taken Dr. Chapman’s 
papers as my text-book, I was naturally interested in confirming or 
modifying his various observations, and that concerning the opacity 
of the ovum came first under review. I was surprised at it, but not 
having bred caia from the egg for some time, was willing to believe 
that my own observation was at fault. It is possible that Dr. 
Chapman’s record of what he saw is quite correct, but I saw something 
different on this occasion. The eggs which, when freshly laid, have a 
slightly greenish hue, become more distinctly cream-coloured during 
the following three or four days; on the 15th day, a dark spot, 
slightly out of the centre, became visible. One small batch of eggs 
had been laid in the glass cover of the box, and examination of this 
spot with a pocket lens under transmitted light showed that it was 
the larval head. Each day the larval form became more and more 
distinctly visible, and on the 14th day the jaws could be seen moving. 
Although, of course, more distinctly visible under transmitted light, 
the same phenomena could be observed in those eggs which had been 
laid on the cardboard sides of the box. On the 15th day, the first 
larva? emerged from the egg, biting their way through near the edge, 
and not eating more of the shell than would enable them to get out. 
For nine days, larva? continued to come out, but whether owing to the 
abnormal time of year, the dryness of the box, or some other un¬ 
detected cause, only a small proportion ultimately emerged, the larger 
portion dying in the egg. On first appearance, the larva? were nearly 
white, the hairs and tubercles slightly darker, but, in a few minutes, 
it could be seen that they were darkening rapidly, and passing through 
dark brown, they, in a few hours, became almost uniformly black. 
They were supplied with deadnettle, but for two days the closest 
scrutiny failed to detect any signs of feeding; the larva?, if left to 
themselves, remaining close to the shells they had come out of, and 
if removed to the food-plant promptly leaving it, and congregating on 
the white cardboard side or glass cover of the box. I have usually 
found the first few days of the life of all larvae a critical time, as 
many do not seem to be able to make up their minds to feed at all, 
and deaths are numerous until the first change of skin has taken 
place. From the 15 th to the 20th of October, I noted that some 60 
larvae had ceased to feed, and, having spun a slight silk pad as a hold¬ 
fast for their prolegs, had apparently laid up for the purpose of under¬ 
going their first ecdysis. The period of quiescence was a prolonged 
one, and it was not until the 22nd that I observed the first larva in 
its fresh coat, and the last had effected the change by the 1st of 
November. Reversing Dr. Chapman’s procedure, I had removed 
each larva into a fresh glass jar as fast as I found if had changed, the 
consequence being that the last second-skin larva did not reach bottle 
No. 2 until the first was laying up for its second change. Bottle No. 
3 was commenced on November 5th, and bottle No. 4 on the 19th. 
On December 1st appeared the first of the fifth-skin larva?, dressed in 
his full parade uniform, and by the 16th, ten larva? had reached this 
stage. On December 30th, the sixth change was commenced, and by 
January 6th, five larva? had reached this stage, the remaining five 
lagging behind, and, as it ultimately turned out, never underwent this 
moult at all, but after wandering about in an aimless manner, 
