on the Phalena Bombyx Lubricipeda of Linneus, €8c. 69 . 
are certainly not fo numerous as many have conjectured ; for though 
Nature frequently fports in this way in the Lepidoptera Clafs, where 
we fee different markings and fhades of colour in the fame fpecies, 
asin Phal. Geom. Prunaria, Defoliaria, &c.; yet an accurate eye will 
foon diftinguifh fome conftant chatadtehite mark which never 
fails to run through and unite them: for example, the long comma- 
hke mark in the firft inftance, and the roundifh dark {pot in the 
fecond; neither of which ever vary. The diftinétion of fex is indeed 
varioufly marked, and requires peculiar attention. Some larvæ pro- 
—. duce winged males and apterous females, which are fo totally different 
in their appearance, that it would be impoflible to determine them 
to be the fame fpecies, if we were not acquainted with their hiftory. 
Some females again have fmall, or as it were only rudiments of, . 
wings; and others differ from the males fo much in colour as not to ap- 
pear fimilar. In fome claffes the diftin&ion is ftrongly marked by the 
antennæ; in others one fex is furnifhed with horns, of which the 
other is deftitute. So that a confiderable degree of attention is requi- 
fite before we attempt to determine; and therefore thofe entomologifts 
are moft to be depended upon, who are at the pains to trace their in- 
fect through. its different changes from the egg to its perfect ftate; 
thus acquiring truth from the fountain head. And to fuch I would 
particularly recommend a {cientific arrangement, that their obfer- 
vations may be more diffufed, and become generally ufeful. In the 
courfe of my own obfervation, I have never feen moths bred from 
the fame eggs fo different as to be miftaken for diftinét fpecies, ex- 
cept in the before-mentioned cafes, where the females were apterous, 
or differed from the males in the colour of their wings. In the latter 
inftance, indeed, the markings are generally fimilar in form, and only 
differ in fhade and colour. If we refleét on the wonderful labours of 
the great Linneus, and the immenfe numbers of objects which he has 
arranged and defcribed, comprehending the three kingdoms of Nature, 
5 | we 
