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Zoology, 



towards the anal angle, giving out branches toward the exterior margin 

 throughout their whole extent. The parts between what appear to be the 

 antennae are of a dark rufous colour; all parts which are not dark, are of a 

 milky white. The characters which appear to be common to both are, the 

 shape, and the rufous lines down the sides. I have found the above cha- 

 racters to hold in a large number of specimens. — C. C. Babington. 7. Hano- 

 ver Street, Bath, Juli/ 8. 1828. 



First Developevient of a perfect Butterfly, or Moth. — Sir, Although in 

 Kirby and Spencer's valuable work there is an interesting description of the 

 first developement of the butterfly, yet 1 take the liberty of sending you an 

 account of an instance which fell under my own observation, as it contains 

 some particulars which do not appear in their narration. 



The moth (Phalae'na />av6nia, emperor) {flg. 17.), which I observed, was 

 about five minutes getting out of its tomb ; its wings were at first small, 

 shrivelled, and flabby, its body very large and unwieldy ; for the first five 

 minutes after its exit it did nothing but stretch its legs, and lie first on one 



side and then on the other, it afterwards lay gently down on its back, with 

 its wings lying negligently at each side; its pulse at this period was at 60, 

 for, as it lay stretched out, the joints of the abdomen, if I may use that term 

 for the pliable parts which are not so visible in a mature subject ^ike the 

 '^joints Ota lobster's body), were transparent, and I could therefore see the 

 internal movements : after remaining a few minutes in this state, the puls- 

 ation became considerably slower, and at the same time the wings began to 

 grow, the first process was the injection of a yellow fluid from the body, 

 which shot very rapidly into the hervure of the wings, and seemed to 

 strengthen them. Their further developement continued to proceed from 

 the base : the action resembled the convulsions of a bit of parchment in the 

 fire, and the wings, from the neiTures being tense, were very like a leaf of 

 Savoy cabbage. In about a quarter of an hour they had attained to theu* 

 'full size, but not strength : one side was perfected before the other was 

 half done; the colours and pencilling grew more evident and brilliant, as 

 the wings increased in size, which was the most beautiful part of the pro- 

 cess. The moth at last turned itself heels over head, and then walked 

 about a little, but was very dull, and the wings did not attain their maxi- 

 tnura of strength till about five hours after, when a copious evacuation took 

 place, and it immediately became quite lively. — E. T. January, 1829. 



The stinging of a Gnat. '— Sir, As an illustration of the principle that 

 "knowledge and pleasure are the result of care and labour, even in the most 

 trifling things, I will relate to you the interest I lately felt in watching the 



