Abstract
CAN any of your readers throw any light on the raison d'être of the dimorphism of the larva of the Death's-head Moth {Acherontia atropos)? Some years ago I found five larvæ of this insect on a bush of jasmine. They were all probably offspring of one female. Two of them were, of the dark chocolate-coloured variety so strikingly dissimilar to the normal or commoner type, The imago of one oi the dark-coloured larvæ differed in no respect that I could perceive from the ordinary form. It has occurred to me that the dark variety may be due to its simulating the dead, withered, blighted, or diseased shoots of the potato, as its commoner brother does the healthy leaves and stalks.
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