distances, even when placed in concealment. Upon this is founded the practice of sembling, as it is called by the London collectors, among whom, as we learn from Barbut and Harris, it has been long in use, for entrapping the males of the fox-moth (Lasiocampa Rubi), the grass-egger (L. Trifolii), and others. "It is a frequent practice," says Haworth, "with the London aurelians, when they breed a female of the lappit-moth (Gasteropacha quercifolia), and some other day-flying species, to take her in a box with a gauze lid into the vicinity of the woods, where, if the weather be favourable, she never fails to attract a numerous train of males, whose only business appears to be an incessant, rapid, and undulating flight in search of the females. One of these is no sooner descried, than they become so much enamoured of their fair kinswoman, as absolutely to lose all fear for their own personal safety, which, at other times, is effectually secured by the reiterated evolutions of their strong and rapid wings. So fearless, indeed, have

I beheld them on these occasions, as to climb up and down the sides of the cage which contained the dear object of their eager pursuit, in exactly the same manner as honey bees which have lost themselves climb up and down the glasses of a window."

In other instances this does not succeed. In the spring of 1830 we bred a female of the lime-hawk moth (Smerinthus Tiliæ, LATREILLE), and placed her on a small lime-tree, planted in a garden-pot, and left her at full liberty, trusting to the known stationary habits of female insects for not losing her. In this we were not deceived, for though the tree contained only a single stem about three feet high, she never left it, remaining upon the same leaf sometimes for several days without stirring, and when she did move, it was only to perambulate the plant, agitating her wings the while (as she did while stationary)

with a sort of tremulous quivering not very perceptible unless closely inspected. It might be that there were no males in the vicinity, though the insect is by no means rare around Lee; at all events, she remained without a mate for about three weeks, as the eggs which she at length laid proved to be infertile, and she died soon after. In the instance of a much rarer insect, the clear under-wing (Egeria asiliformis, STEPHENS), having discovered a brood in the trunk of a poplar tree, we were desirous of securing all that issued from it, and having caught a female, we placed her in a box covered with gauze at the root of the tree,-the notion of surrounding the tree itself with gauze not having occurred to us at the moment. As this moth is one of the dayfliers, we expected to make sure of all the males in the neighbourhood; but, to our no small disappointment, not one approached the box, though we afterwards inclosed in it another female. This was the more remarkable, that, from the protrusion of the pupa cases from the tree, there was evidently not only one or two, but a considerable number evolved after the box had been placed there. In 1828, having discovered a beautiful male crane-fly (Ctenophora pectinicornis, MEIGEN), apparently just disclosed from the pupa, we carefully examined the old willow stump upon which it rested, expecting to find more of the same brood. Next day we accordingly observed a female, and imagining it to be one of the rare species (Ct. ornata or Ct. flaveolata), we placed her in a gauze-covered box; but no male approached for five days, when a large hunting-spider found means to introduce himself into the box, and make a meal of her *.

There is one extraordinary fact connected with this subject, which is worthy of being prominently stated, namely, that after insects pair, and the females de

* J. R.

U

a, Ctenophora flaveolata. b, Ctenophora ornata.

posit their eggs, they very soon die, seldom living a few days, sometimes only a few hours, afterwards; but should pairing be prevented, their lives, and particularly that of the female, may be protracted to an indefinite period. Collectors, indeed, find that it is with the utmost difficulty a female can be deprived of her life before laying; and we have no doubt that the marvellous stories reported of the revival of flies and other insects, after long immersion in spirits, or after being crushed by shutting a book, originated in this circumstance, as well as the prolonged life of some insects, which is given on good authority. Rösel, for example, informs us that he kept a rose-chafer (Cetonia aurata) upwards of three years, feeding it with fruit and moist bread *; and Audebert is said to *Inseckten Belustig. iii. 379.

have kept a spider for several years*. This, however, will not authorise us to credit Goldsmith's story of a spider, not confined, living for three years, particularly as it does not appear that he had any means of identifying the individual; and much less to believe that a flea, even when confined and well fed, would live six, or a mantis ten years, such circumstance being so very anomalous as to be quite incredible.

It would not be correct, however, to say that the day-flies (Ephemerida) live only one day, and in some species only a few hours; for, in the form of grubs, some of those short-lived flies continue for two years; and though the goat-moth (Cossus ligniperda) and the stag-beetle (Lucanus cervus) live in their perfect state only a few weeks, their larvæ live for three years; that of the cock-chafer (Melolontha vulgaris) lives four years, as a destroyer of the roots of grass and other herbage t; while the beetle only lives to pair, and deposit its eggs. The same holds true of the queen-bee; but she does not, like the beetles and the moths, lay her eggs at once, but sometimes continues, if we may credit the elder Huber, for two successive years to deposit her eggs. The following experiment which he made to ascertain the fact of the first swarms being always, as Réaumur had conjectured, led by an old queen, is interesting as to this point:

"One of my glass hives," he says, "consisting of three parallel combs, in frames opening like the leaves of a book, was well peopled, and abundantly provided with honey and wax, and with brood of various ages. From this hive I removed the queen, on the 5th of May, and next day transferred into it all the bees from another hive, with a fertile queen, at least a year old. They entered easily, without fighting, and were well received by the old inhabitants, who, upon having

*Nouv. Dict. d'Hist. Nat. ii. 285. +See Insect Transformations, p. 227.

been deprived of their queen, had begun twelve royal cells. They likewise gave the queen a good reception, presenting her with honey, and surrounding her in regular circles. In the evening, however, there occurred a little agitation, though this was confined to the surface of the comb, where the queen had been placed, and which she had not quitted: on the other side all was perfectly quiet. By the morning of the 7th the bees had destroyed the twelve royal cells, but in all other respects good order continued to prevail in the hive; and the queen commenced to lay the eggs of males and of workers respectively in the large and small cells.

"About the 12th, I found the bees occupied in constructing twenty-two royal cells, of the species described by Réaumur, namely, with the bases not in the plane of the comb, but appended perpendicularly by foot-stalks of different lengths, like stalactites, on the edge of the passage made by the bees through their combs. They bore, indeed, a considerable resemblance to the cup of an acorn, the longest being only about two lines and a half in depth from the bottom to the orifice. On the 13th, the queen seemed to be already more slender than when introduced into the hive; but she still continued to deposit some eggs both in common cells and in those of males. I also surprised her this day, laying in a royal cell : she first dislodged the worker there employed, by pushing it away with her head, and then supported herself by the adjoining cells, while depositing the egg. On the 15th, the size of the queen was still farther reduced, and the workers continued their attention to the royal cells, which were all unequally advanced, some to the height of three or four lines, while others were already an inch long; thus proving that the queen had not deposited eggs in the whole at the same time.

"At a moment when it was least expected, the hive swarmed on the 19th. We were warned of this by a