x a: À 
TRANSACTIONS 
OF THE 
LINNEAN SOC: E T:Y. 
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I The Hiflory and Defcriptions of four new Species of Phalæna. 
By the late Mr. Jobn Beckwith, F. L. S. 
Read March 3, i 789. 
N the prefent advanced ftate of Entomology it is not often to 
be eae that much of the Natural Hiftory of new and 
extremely rare fpecies of infects can be obtained. The methods 
which many of them take to fcreen themfelves from obfervation 
in their firft ftages of life (too often fuccefsfully for the Entomolo- 
gift) are not more various than they are interefting and curious. Of 
the Lepidoptera, that order of infeéts whofe beauty has invited moft 
Entomologifts particularly to attend to it, many of the caterpillars 
feed enclofed within the ftems of herbaceous plants; others in 
the branches or trunks of trees; a few within fruits and buds of 
flowers; fome upon the roots of plants; others again float upon 
the furface of the water, between the leaves of aquatic vegetables, 
woven around them with inimitable art; and a much greater num- 
Vor. II. B | ber 
