14 
occasionally nibbling at their food, but more often remaining without 
feeding at all, one by one died off, and this in spite of my utmost 
endeavours to tempt their appetites, by supplying them with stinging- 
nettle, dock, and other plants, in addition to the deadnettle, of which 
I had a plentiful supply. One larva died after moulting into the 
sixth skin, and the remaining four commenced spinning on the 9th, 
12th and 15th (2) of February. The spinner of the 9th pupated on 
22nd, 13 days after the commencement of its cocoon ; that of the 12th 
on the 24th, or 12 days afterwards ; and one of the 15th got through 
on March 6th, a delay of 19 days. The second of the 15th February 
spinners had not changed on the 7th, but when it ultimately succeeded 
in effecting this operation I do not know, as I have been absent from 
London. Thus far, my ten “forwards” have produced four pupae, and 
had formed 16-6 % of those which had effected their first change of 
skin. Returning now to the contents of bottles 2, 3 and 4, all those 
which occupied bottle No. 4 appeared to be hybernating, and these I 
regarded as Dr. Chapman’s so-called “ normals.” They had undergone 
three changes, and were in their 4th skin. The “laggards” in bottles 
Nos. 2 and 3, however, went on feeding, and ultimately, by February 
14th, all had reached the same stage, and on the following day the 
first 5th skin laggard appeared, but not in caia plumage. Indeed, I 
saw little difference in its appearance, except that it was considerably 
larger. Eleven larvae reached this 5th skin state by March 1st, and 
on March 6th, one of them moulted for the fifth time, and in this, 
its 6th skin, took on the caia plumage. And now a second disaster 
awaited me, for whilst the normal hybernators had not yet woke up, 
the laggards suddenly refused to eat, and one by one died off, until, 
at the present moment, I possess only live laggards, all in their 6th 
skin, four of which are laying up for another eedysis, and one which, 
although the largest, is certainly the liveliest, and is here in the small 
glass-topped box, whilst the large jam-bottle contains the normal 
hybernators, which still sleep the sleep of the just caterpillar, waiting 
to be made perfect. Now let us note first that the winter has been 
exceptionally mild, and, in addition to this, my caia have occupied a 
position of warmth in my sitting room, where the temperature is 
somewhere about 60°-65° F., and yet a certain number of larvae have 
hybernated right through. Next as to the laggards, they have all 
passed the normal by one skin. One, indeed, got two skins in advance 
before it died. I see distinctly that the continual handling of the 
larvae in shifting them from bottle to bottle as fast as they moulted, 
has apparently been the cause of great mortality, and yet I fancy my 
procedure was perferable to that of Dr. Chapman’s, who on certain of 
his larvae laying up to moult, removed the remainder into a new 
bottle. On my plan, one bottle always contained all the larvae in a 
certain state, and as each one assumed a new state it was removed. 
With his plan, several bottles gradually accumulated, each containing 
larvae in the same stage of development, and I cannot help thinking 
that, owing to the fact that the various stages overlapped each other in 
point of time, the most careful and acute observer, and I am quite 
ready to hail Dr. Chapman as such, would be liable to become mixed 
up as to the number of moults which had taken place in any particular 
instance, and this difficulty would be vastly increased as the 
number of specimens under observation increased. Whilst not for 
