52 



HARDWiCKE'S SCIENCE- GOSSIP. 



hailstorms, was tliat the track of the storm ap- 

 peared to be confined to a limited area. Thunder- 

 storms prevailed throughout the day in various 

 localities, but I have not heard that any other 

 place was visited by so severe a liailstorm. 



J. F. T. 



ON CERTAIN WINGLESS INSECTS. 

 By T. W. WoNroK. 



HAVING now classed the wings, and shown that, 

 with but [two exceptions, all the insect tribe 

 possess four wings, or their modifications, we willpro- 

 ceed to certain exceptional cases, in which the wings 

 are so little developed, or are so perfectly rudimentary 

 as to be altogether useless to their possessors as 

 organs of flight. This is the more remarkable from 

 the fact that some members of the family have well- 

 developed wings, and especially that occasionally the 

 males alone possess the power of flight, while the 

 females, who would seem to want it most, are utterly 

 unable to fly, or, in some cases, to move more than 

 a few inches from the places where they have escaped 

 from the chrysalis. 



Among the moths is a small group, the Liparidce, 



so named after one of their number, Liparis dispar, 



the Gipsy, characterized by the great breadth of their 



wings and smallness of their bodies, and nearly allied 



, to the swift-flying moths, the Bomhycidce. These 



' latter includethe Lappet, Oak Eggar, Kentish Glory, 



..&c., some of which are not only noteworthy for their 



: -great powers of flight, but also for the very strange 



habit, "sembling," that is, the collecting together 



, of large numbers of the males, drawn from long 



. distances by the females, instances of which have 



fbeen detailed to the Society on former occasions. 



• Fig. 34. VapourerMoth (Ori'^ia aii^ijua), MaleandFemale. 



. Among these Lipnridce are those pests to the or- 

 chards |of Kent, the Brown-tail and Gold-tail moths. 

 The caterpillars of all are hairy ; some are character- 

 ized by peculiar tufts uf hairs, as seen in the well- 

 inownHop-dog, while the common Vapourer(C>«7j/2« 

 antiqua) and the scarce Vapourer {Orgyia gono- 

 stigma) have tufts of long hairs as well, pointing 

 over the head like brushes, each hair being tipped 

 with a small knob. The caterpillars of the first 

 {Orgyia antiqua) feed on many plants and shrubs, 

 while the latter feed on the nut aud oak, and each, 

 when it is about to change to the chrysalisj spins a 



loose web intermingled with its hairs, and turns into 

 a hairy chrysalis. The moths, which escape from the 

 chrysalides, are, from their peculiar rising and falling 

 flight, called " Vapourers." The males of both species 

 have slender bodies and very broad wings, and are 

 met with, not simply in the country, but in the very 

 heart of towns and cities. At the proper time of 

 year they may be seen " vapouring " among the 

 trees on the Level. 



The females of both species are nearly wingless, 

 have large bodies, and are as unlike moths in appear- 

 ance as is possible to conceive. The colour, too, is 

 diiferent from that of the active males, being of a 

 dull grey or ashy brown, while the males are richly 

 tinted, and in one case marked with a white spot on 

 the upper wing. So slight is the power of locomo- 

 tion in the female, that she very seldom gets beyond 

 the empty cocoon on which slie lays her eggs and 

 dies. But though so unattractive to human eyes, 

 they are not to their male admirers, as may be proved 

 by taking a newly-escaped female in the neighbour- 

 hood of male vapourers, for then they come flitting 

 around, and soon settle on the box containing the 

 captive female. 



Our next examples will be taken from a very large 

 family of moths, the caterpillars of which differ from 

 those of other moths and butterflies in the number 

 of their " false legs," and also in their mode of pro- 

 gression. The caterpillars of moths and butterflies 

 possess, as is generally known, six true legs, and in 

 addition ten false legs, or " claspers," by means of 

 which they hold on. In one great family most pos- 

 sess only four of these claspers, which are situated 

 at the tail end, so that the caterpillar cannot hold on 

 by the middle of the body ; the consequence is, that 

 when it walks, the middle of the body is looped, from 

 which circumstance they have been called "Loopers," 

 and from their appearing to measure the space they 

 traverse, they have been denominated Geometry or 

 "earth-measures." Many of these caterpillars resem- 

 ble in colour the leaves or stems of the plants on 

 which they feed, and when at rest cling by the anal 

 claspers, and stand out at an angle from the twig, 

 in which position they so much resemble a stick or 

 twig, tiiat the name " Stick " caterpillars has been 

 given to them. It is among this family that the 

 power is possessed of linking the two wings together, 

 when the insects fly. Another peculiarity belonging 

 to some is that they rest with their wings folded 

 back to back like the butterflies. 



Among the Geometers are several moths, the fe- 

 males of which either have small and useless wings, as 

 far as they are considered instruments of locomotion, 

 or so aborted as to appear altogether wanting. Thus 

 in Ilyhernia mpicapraria (the Early Moth), which 

 appears in January, the wings of the male are ample, 

 and of a dark brown colour, the wings of the female 

 are very short, and cut off obliquely at the hind mar- 

 gin, while the body is short and stout. In Hybemia 



