THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



report : " The materials brought home from between the parallels 78° 

 and 83'^ N. latitude, showed quite unexpected, and in some respects 

 astonishing results. I have no hesitation in saying that the most valuable 

 of all the zoological collections are those belonging to the entomological 

 section, because these latter prove the existence of a comparatively rich 

 insect fauna, and even of several species of showy butterflies, in very 

 high latitudes." 



But the most interesting account of experiments on this subject which 

 I have seen, is that given by Commander James Ross, R. N., F. R. S., 

 and inserted by Curtis in the Entomological Appendix to the " Narrative" 

 of Sir John Ross's second arctic voyage. The experiments were tried 

 upon the caterpillars of Laria Rossii, a very abundant species in Boothia 

 Felix, and doubtless all through the artic regions of this continent. The 

 account (page Ixxi.) is as follows: "About thirty of the caterpillars 

 were put into a box in the middle of September, and after being exposed 

 to the severe winter temperature of the next three months, they were 

 brought into a warm cabin, where, in less than two hours, everyone of 

 them returned to life, and continued for a whole day walking about ; they 

 were again exposed to the air at a temperature of about 40° below zero, 

 and became immediately hard frozen ; in this state they remained a week, 

 and on being brought again into the cabin, only twenty-three came to 

 life ; these were, at the end of four hours, put out once more into the air, 

 and again hard frozen ; after another week they were brought in, when 

 only eleven were restored to life ; a fourth time they were exposed to the 

 winter temperature, and only two returned to life on being again brought 

 into the cabin ; these two survived the winter, and in May an imperfect 

 Laria was produced from one, and six flies from the other." 



That a caterpillar infested with parasites should have been able to 

 survive such severe treatment and spin its cocoon is most remarkable* 

 and it is not to be wondered at that alternate freezing and thawing should 

 have been disastrous to the majority of those experimented upon. Many 

 other similar accounts doubtless exist, but I think that the records which 

 I have thus brought together are sufficient to prove that actual freezing 

 is not necessarily fatal to insects, and that Mr. Bean had no sufficient 

 warrant for the statement quoted at the beginning of this article. 



