60 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



of his 



were really piled in this cavern at the bottom of 

 the nest, and there were more ants here than in 

 any other part of the colony. They of course began 

 anxiously to remove and carry about their young 

 when I looked in upon them. It seems to me a 

 remarkable fact, there not being any males or 

 females at all. I ihave seen no trace 

 of a female since the swarming of August 

 30th, 1S71. I cannot account for the 

 young which I found in the formicary 

 this year. 



I have now had ants under my notice 

 in my formicaries for more than three 

 years, and have kept two kinds, Formica 

 nigra and Myrmica ruginodis. Whether 

 I shall next year start a colony of some 

 fresh species, I do not know; but any- 

 how my ants have afforded me many 

 happy hours. They are a class of in- 

 sects intensely interesting, and little 

 understood. In recommending the study 

 to others I cannot give a better motto 

 than Huber gives on the title-page 

 " Recherches sur les Eourmis " : 



" Cherchez, et vous trouverez." 



Edward Eentonb Elwin. 

 Cuius College, Cambridge. 



THE ANTENNA OF LEPIDOPTERA. 



THE antennae of insects are of themselves a 

 study, as Mr. Woufor has shown, and the 

 closer the observation we give them the more 

 charmed shall we be with their diversity of form 

 and tint. Much has been written as to the part 

 these important organs play in the economy of the 

 insect; but hitherto no definite conclusion has been 

 arrived at. My own opinion is that they are 

 employed as a means of communication. I have 

 frequently seen beetles strike one another with their 

 antenna, causing sometimes a great ebullition of 

 wrath, at another time a rush together in one 

 direction, or asimultaueousattackonafoe. Though, 

 after all has been said, they may be endued with a 

 sense altogether unknown to us. But leaving the 

 strictly scientific portion of the subject to abler 

 pens, my desire in the present paper is to draw 

 attention to the great and varied beauty of these 

 adornments of creatures, perhaps the most lovely in 

 the whole kingdom of nature. " Quis enim eximiam 

 earum pulchritudinem et varietatem contemplans 

 mira voluptate non alliciatur ? " 



One of the characteristics by which the Papilio- 

 uidfe are to be distinguished from the Heterocera is 

 the antenna, the former, with but few exceptions, 

 having a knobbed extremity, which is wanting in the 

 latter, and being incapable of folding them under 

 the wings, or of much flexibility. Although butter- 



flies do not present us with such difference of 

 antenna-form as moths, a strict examination will 

 detect a great distinction between the several 

 families. Those of the Purple Emperor are the 

 longest, and the tapering of the club in this species 

 is exceedingly graceful. The ringed antennae of 



Fig. so. Deilephila Gatii, showing uncinate antennae. 



the Lycenid;!; are very pretty objects. Considering 

 its size, the Swallow-tail— the largest of English 

 butterflies— has them very short. This is a distinc- 

 tive feature of the Rhodoceridae and Pieridae. In 

 the Hesperidffi, Paniscus, Comma, and Sylvanus 

 have hooked antennae, a character in British insects 

 Confined almost exclusively to the Heterocera; but 

 existing in many exotic species of butterflies. In 

 some of the older works on entomology this little 

 family was omitted altogether in the Papilionidae. 

 Having thus rapidly glanced at the antennae of 



Fig. 51. Macroglossa fadfurmis, showing uncinate antennae. 



butterflies, we will proceed to those of moths ; and 

 here, as the scientific name given them by Boisduval 

 implies, the variety of " horns " we shall meet with 

 will be very great. They may be divided into three 

 kinds : the filiform or simple, uncinate or hooked 

 and the plumed or pennate : they have furthermore 

 been called pectinated, ciliated, serrated, and pubes- 

 cent. The Sphingidai will furnish us with instances 

 of uncinate antennae, those of Atropos being the 

 most prominent examples ; but the silvery white of 

 Ligustri and the delicate pink of Porcellus are the 

 most beautiful in this group. The Zeuzerida; and 

 Hepialidae, excepting iEsculi and Ligniperda in the 



