kncftan to occur in Switzerland. 557 



Wimmis, at the foot of the Neisen ; near Berne at the Engi. In 

 1818, the Pasteur Rohrdorf of Seen, near Winterthur, found thir- 

 teen larvae on Epildbium rosmarinifdlium ? (More probably E. spi- 

 catum.) 



50. Apropos. In some years very plentiful, in others rare, or almost 



none. The larva is frequently found among potato plants. (Meis- 

 ner then gives a long quotation from Engramslleon the little known 

 history of the juvenile days of this caterpillar; all of which Ochsen- 

 heimer, from his own experience, pronounces to be a barefaced 

 fable.) 



51. convolvuli. Everywhere one of the most common species. 



52. ligustri. Near Berne, and in other parts, abundantly. 



53. pinastri. Everywhere in the plains where there are fir forests. In 



the evening, this and the last frequent gardens where honeysuckles 

 abound. 



54. tiliae. In all parts where there are lime or elm trees, in June. The 



insect, fresh from its chrysalis, is often found sitting on the stems. 

 This varies more than other species in its colours and markings. 



55. ocellata. Also nowhere rare. The larva is found, from July to the 



end of September, on willows, poplars, apple trees, &c. ; and the fly 

 usually appears the following spring. 



56. populi. Everywhere common. 



In 1803, a newly excluded female, which had had no con- 

 nexion with the male, produced fertile eggs ; the larvae from 

 which I reared up to their metamorphosis. I made a similar 

 experiment in 1806 with a female of B. Cajtf ; and Mr. Wag- 

 ner of Arau with £phinr ocellata also : it would therefore 

 appear that in the Lepidoptera, a single pairing can render 

 fertile more than one generation, as is the case with the 

 A'phides.* 



[* We have put the preceding statement, which is so very interesting in 

 the information which it communicates, in a larger type, to render it the 

 more noticeable. 



In the Gardener's Magazine (vii. p. 196 — 199.) is an abstract of a 

 memoir " On the Gooseberry Caterpillars, and the Application of Heat 

 for their Destruction ; by Robert Thorn, Esq., Rothesay," which had been 

 published in the Memoirs of the Caledonian Horticidtural Society. It was 

 read before the Society on " Dec. 7. 1820." Mr. Thorn has stated in his 

 memoir a fact kindred to those stated above by Mr. Brown. 



Nematus ribesii Stephens (VII. 265.) seems to be the species of insect 

 treated of. ..." The insect is male and female; but the ova of the female 

 produce caterpillars, even when the male and female flies are kept separate. 

 How long this offspring would continue to breed has not been ascertained ; 

 but by following up the experiments it might be very easily done." The 

 author has continued : " There is some reason to suspect that there is a 

 connexion between the male and female caterpillars ; for I have frequently 

 observed them twisted together for some time after they had ceased eating, 

 and a little before they cast their skins to go into the pupa state. By a 

 little more attention this may be ascertained." This is a notion of Mr. 

 Thorn's which may not be agreed to. We digress to quote from him, not a 

 notion, but a conclusion, which seems to be derived from close observation, 

 to the amount that the caterpillar of Nematus ribesii, which is to be 

 changed into a female imago, eats more than a caterpillar which is to be 

 changed into a male imago. Has it been observed that this case is general 



