23 
long curved spikes in the tail. Enclosed in a slight silken cocoon on, 
or just below the surface of the ground. The greater part of mine 
spun up against the sides of the pot, on the surface of the ground, but 
a few went about an inch under the surface. Fifteen pupae were 
obtained, which emerged as follows :—July ioth, four specimens ; 
July nth, three specimens; July 12th, four specimens; July 13th, two 
specimens; July 15th, one specimen, making a total of fourteen 
specimens. One died in the pupa state. Judging from these dates, 
one would infer that ophiogra?nma all emerge at about the same 
time, and that if good specimens are wanted, the exact date must be 
chosen, a theory which seems to be confirmed by my experience. With 
regard to the time of day that these specimens emerged, the majority 
appeared between noon and 7 p.m., only one emerged during the night, 
and none during the forenoon. I sugared for the perfect insect from 
the beginning of July till the middle of August, only a few evenings 
being omitted. My captures were;—July 9th, one specimen; July 
15th, two specimens; July 18th, four specimens; July 31st, one 
specimen; August 1st, one specimen; August 7th, two specimens; 
August 8th, two specimens; making a total of thirteen specimens. 
The August specimens were all somewhat worn. These dates agree 
fairly with those of the bred specimens, and seem to show that the 
beginning to the middle of July is the right time for the imago. The 
methods of capture were various, eight being taken on sugar, three on 
the wing in the garden, flying over various plants, one in our conserva¬ 
tory, and one came to light in my bedroom. Of the 1890 specimens, 
five were taken at honey-dew, two on the wing, and one at light. I 
never saw them at flowers, or at any other attractions. The time of 
flight naturally varied according to the time of year, some of the July 
specimens being taken at 9.30 pan., while the August specimens 
appeared soon after 8.30. Compared with the times of sunset, I find 
that they usually begin to fly about half an hour after sunset, and 
continue for perhaps three-quarters of an hour. None were seen after 
9.30 except the single specimen at light, which appeared at 10.45. 
Ophiogiamma comes freely to sugar, and it is probably only owing to 
the absence of information about its habits that it is not taken more 
commonly. It settles as far from the sugar as possible, and on several 
of my patches which were on standard rose trees, and other slender 
stems, it completely concealed itself on the opposite side, reaching its 
proboscis round the corner to the nearest drop of sugar. It is also 
very skittish, and will throw itself off backwards when you are some 
distance away, and falling down among the herbage, will be perfectly 
concealed. After missing several in this way one evening, I tried the 
effect of a double dose of rum in the sugar, and took four the next 
evening without any trouble. When it first settles it keeps its wings 
half raised, and slowly vibrating, but as soon as the rum takes effect 
down go its wings, and it then sticks close to the bark. This, how¬ 
ever, raises another difficulty; it is now rather hard to see on the dark 
bark of our London trees, the peculiar “ festoon ” marking taking away 
the triangular look of the insect. On the wing, it is easily seen and 
captured. Its flight is low and steady, and it seems to have no 
special object in hand, but rather aimlessly flies along. The light 
undersides of its wings however make it look much smaller than it 
really is, and it may easily be mistaken for Caradrina morpheus, The 
