THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 179 



I thought it was Botis magistraiis, on closer inspection I doubted its 

 identity — it was like, and yet unlike. I concluded that if it was A/agis- 

 trails, it was an unusually fine specimen, so I took a quantity of it anyway, 

 and all the more willingly as it was quite abundant in the very spot where 

 I wanted to stay for a while. On comparing them, I was still undecided ; 

 whilst in communication with the Rev. Mr. Hulst, about some Geometers, 

 I sent to him a specimen and received for it the name Bolls quinquelin- 

 'ealis Grote. These three names are then the only presentable result of 

 my last season's work in this direction. 



J. Alston Moffat, Hamilton, Ont. 



KNOWLEDGE OF DEATH IN INSECTS. 



Dear Sir ; An incidental remark in one of my papers, page 6, of the 

 present vol., has attracted the attention of a correspondent of the Ento- 

 mologist, as may be seen by turning to page 120. I was then entirely 

 unaware that I was meddling with an "ipse dixit of Mr. Grote's, or was 

 touching one of his 'chips,' " but, in common with the readers of the 

 Entomologist, I know it now. While Mr. Grote certainly had the right 

 to show, if he could, that the alleged assertion, whether made by himself 

 or not, was not " unsupported," was not " dogmatic ; " yet he had no 

 right to assume that I had seen his paper, and even on that assumption 

 no right disposed person, while differing from me, could take legitimate 

 offence at my words, which are strictly scientific. The cause is said to be 

 weak, when the advocate resorts to the argumentum ad hominem to over- 

 come his opponents argumentum ad rem ; * * * Let us see where 

 Mr. Grote stands, his words are : £i It is by the keeping still that the 

 insects seem to me to appear to ' feign death,' of che existence of which 

 latter they could have no knowledge." Few or none will dispute the first 

 part of the quotation. It states exactly what such insects do, that is, 

 •" keep still ; " but this does not prove that insects can have " no know- 

 ledge of death ; " no proof of this is anywhere offered, nor is the assertion 

 in any way limited or qualified ; hence "unsupported," "dogmatic" are 

 appropriate adjectives, and though not made by me with any reference to 

 or knowledge of Mr. Grote's paternal claim. Now see how he "corrects" 

 the adjectives " unsupported," " dogmatic " (ib , p. 120). His words now 

 read : " Whether insects can have any knowledge of death, as such, may 

 be a matter of opinion," etc., quite a different statement from his former 



