522 Short Communications : — 



known that neither of these cases is ever realised, we must 

 suppose another, which I have already done in my former 

 communication, (p. 202 — 217.) In fact, in angling in the 

 beginning of March, fish are often caught, which it would 

 puzzle the most experienced fisherman to determine whether 

 they are par or smelts, especially after they have been caught 

 some time ; and, in a large number caught at that time, there 

 are all the intermediate shades of appearance between the 

 perfect par and the real blue smelt. — Idem. 



Insects. — Eoctrerne Cold does not destroy the Life in the 

 JEggs, Sfc, of Insects ; with some Facts on Lycce'na. dispar. — 

 Mr. Browne relates some interesting facts (p. 246.) in proof 

 of the little effect produced by extreme cold in destroying life 

 in insect eggs.* The vulgar notion is (and a priori it seems 

 a probable one), that a severe winter is destructive of insects ; 

 and, consequently, that there will be fewer than usual during 

 the succeeding summer. Experience, however, shows that 

 this is not the case ; and that the scarcity or abundance of 

 insects has little or nothing to do with the severity or mild- 

 ness of the preceding winter. The fact is, insects, either in 

 the egg, larva, pupa, or perfect state, are, in the ordinary 

 course of things, liable to be exposed to severe cold ; and, 

 therefore, nature has provided for them accordingly, endowing 

 them with constitutions calculated to endure the degree of 

 cold which they will have to encounter. It may be added, 

 that these little creatures seem to be proof also against some 

 other vicissitudes of nature less regular in their occurrence 

 than the periodical returns of winter's cold. The following 

 fact, communicated to me by the late Mr. Haworth, may 

 serve as an illustration : — Some entomologists once made an 

 excursion into the fen countries, for the purpose of taking the 

 beautiful Lycae^n« dispar, or large copper butterfly ; which, it 

 is well known, frequents low marshy grounds. The coppers 

 were captured in good abundance. It so happened that the 

 following winter proved to be a wet one ; and the entire tract 

 of land where the coppers had been found was completely 

 inundated, and actually lay under water for a considerable 

 time. The entomologists deemed that the flood would cer- 

 tainly destroy the coppers, and that the race would become 

 extinct in that part of the country. The next summer, how- 

 ever, the butterflies were found again, in the very same spot, 

 as plentifully as before. Subsequently, as Mr. Haworth in- 



* [In giving Mr. Brown's communication, we have blundered, in p. 246, 

 247., by omitting the minus mark from the statement of the compared 

 degrees of temperature indicated by the thermometers of Reaumur and 

 Fahrenheit : the cited temperatures were all below zero. — J. D.] 



