Zoology, 435 



the -Bombyx castrensis described above. The 

 lyUcanidEe are, however, generally excep- 

 tions to the rule. 



There are other instances of similar freaks 

 of nature on record besides the preceding. 

 Thus, in the 15th volume of the Liniusan 

 Transactions f and the 1st volume of the Zoo- 

 logical Journal^ an account is given of a spe- 

 cimen of a large foreign butterfly, in the col- 

 lection of Mr. MacLeay, the right side of 

 which is masculine, and exhibits the cha- 

 racters of Papllio Polycaow, belonging to 

 the Linnaean division of the Greeks ; and 

 the left side female, and representing P. 

 Laodocu^, a Trojan : thus proving these two 

 supposed species to be but the sexes of the 

 same, and also that this portion of the Lin- 

 naean classification was erroneous ; since 

 the section was established upon sexual characters. 



The Encyclopedic Methodiqne, art. Papillon, however, records an instance 

 of two Greeks thus united. The specimen, which is preserved in the 

 museum of the Jardin des Plantes at Paris, being composed of two hitherto 

 supposed distinct species ; the right side being P. Ulysses, and the left 

 P. Diomede^, which are hence found to be the sexes of one species : and 

 it is not improbable that other supposed species of Papilio are in the same 

 predicament. 



Tn the majority of the preceding instances it will be perceived that the 

 left side of the specimen is masculine. 



The Russian naturalist. Dr. G. Fischer, in the plates of the Natural His- 

 tory of Moscow, published with his Oryctographie du GouvernementdeMoscoiiy 

 (fol. 1830, Mosc), has figured a hermaphrodite -Sphin.r (Smerinthus) p6- 

 puli, which he reared from the caterpillar (and which, as well as the pupa, 

 is figured) in 1809; but the specimen has since unfortunately been con- 

 sumed in the fire of Moscow. The right side of the insect is male, and the 

 left female : — " Tout le corps (including the antennae, palpi, &c.) est divise 

 en male et femelle ainsi que les parties genitales," is the short notice given 

 of the insect. Magnified figures are added of the appearance of the latter 

 organs, as well as of the head, antennae, and palpi ^ which last are more 

 developed in the male than in the female. 



Figures are also given of a hermaphrodite moth (Geometra artemisiaria) 

 which nearly resembles the Biipalus piniarius, likewise bred from the larva, 

 which is figured, as well as the pupa. In this specimen the left side is mas- 

 culine, and the right feminine : in the genus Bupakw, however, the females 

 are smaller than the males. 



1 have likewise seen two specimens of 5phin.r (Smerinthus) populi, bred 

 by Mr. Weaver of Birmingham, both of which have the sides of the body 

 of opposite sexes; and the Rev. F. W. Hope has been fortunate enough 

 to procure a specimen of the large water beetle (Z)ytiscus marginahs) also 

 similarly circumstanced; which is the more interesting, since the sexual 

 characters in that group aregreatlj' developed; the males having patelHform 

 anterior tarsi, and smooth elytra, and the females simple tarsi, and the 

 elytra with deep longitudinal hirsute furrows. 



I may add, in conclusion, that these, and other instances of a similar na- 

 ture, occupy at the present time the attention of one of our most philoso- 

 phical researchers in natural history ; and we may rest assured that from thfe 

 hands of the acute detector of the C'jgnus Bewickii the student will receive 

 a memoir worthy not only of the subject, but of its author. I am. Sir, 

 yours, &c, — John O. Westwood. Grove, Hammersmifh, June, IS3\. 



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