THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



to revive. But other trials have fully confirmed Lister's observations. 

 My friend, Mr. Stickney, the author of a valuable ' Essay on the Grub ' 

 (larva of Tipula oleracea) — to ascertain the effect of cold in destroying 

 this insect, exposed some of them to a severe frost, which congealed them 

 into perfect masses of ice. When broken their whole interior was found 

 to be frozen ; yet several of these resumed their active powers. Bonnet 

 had precisely the same result with the pupae of Papilio brassicce, which, 

 by exposing to a frost of 14° R. below zero (o" F.), became lumps of ice, 

 and yet produced butterflies. Indeed, the circumstance that animals of 

 a much more complex organization than insects, namely, serpents and 

 fishes, have been known to revive after being frozen, is sufficient to dispel 

 any doubts on this head." 



In Barmeister's "Manual of Entomology" the above instances are 

 also referred to, though at much less length ; but, as no additional facts 

 are adduced, it is unnecessary to quote from his work. 



The above would seem sufficient to establish the proposition that 

 some insects can survive freezing, and, indeed, when one remembers that 

 insects successfully maintain their existence in the most arctic lands 

 which have ever been visited by man, it seems strange that anyone 

 should ever have questioned it. Is it conceivable that these tiny 

 creatures, when in a state of lethargy and partaking of no nourishment, 

 could successfully resist yielding to frost in regions subject to a temper- 

 ature of 75° F. below zero, and where in summer the soil only thaws to 

 the depth of twelve or fifteen inches, the ground below this depth being 

 perpetually frozen ? 



The meteorological tables of the English arctic expedition of 1875-6 

 show that the mean temperature of the winter months at the stations of 

 the two vessels, "Alert" and "Discovery", varied from 5° F. below 

 zero in October, and 17° F. below zero in April, to 40'^ F. below zero in 

 the middle of the winter, and that the minimum temperatures reached 

 were: — 73^° F. at the winter quarters of the first named vessel, and 

 — 70.8" F. at the station of the latter in Discovery Bay. 



In spite of these terrible temperatures the naturalists attached to the 

 expedition were very successful, and Mr. Robert McLachlan, F. R. S., 

 to whom the collections of insects were submitted, wrote as follows in his 



