92 TRANSACTIONS OF THE ILLINOIS 



of the life of the Ciirculio in the perfect state. Besides, what Avas the exception one 

 year may become the rule the year following. In breeding buttei-flies and moths, 

 individuals hatched from one and the same batch of eggs on the same day, will 

 frequently, some of them, perfect themselves and issue in the fiill, while others wiU 

 pass the winter in the imperfect state, and not issue till spring; and in the case of a 

 prangling green worm that is found on raspberry leaves, and that passes the winter 

 under ground, and develops into a four-iAinged fly (Selandria ruM, Harris) in the 

 spring, I ha^'e known a difference of three months to occur between the issuing ol the 

 first and last individuals of the same brood, all the larsje of which had entered 

 the ground within three days. Far be it from me to pronounce that there is no such 

 thing as rule in Nature, and that we cannot, therefore, generalize; I simply assert 

 that we frequently draw our lines too rigidly, and endeavor to make the facts come 

 within them, instead of looseniug and aUovAing them to encompass the facts. 



It was my intention to have thoroughlj^ and forever settled these disputed questions 

 the past summer, but owing to a lengthy sickness of Mr. "Walsh, I AS'as overwhelmed 

 with other matters, at the very season in which the proper experiments could alone 

 be made. Such observations as were made, however, only confirm me in my previous 

 opinion, that it is single-brooded as a rule; but, in justice to Mr. "Walsh I will say, 

 that to the day of his death he held the contrary' opiuiou of its being double-brooded. 

 It was on account of this difference of opinion between us, that we could never 

 editorially touch upon the point in the columns of the American Entomologist ; though 

 we had each of us decided to come to an agreement, in accordance with the facts to be 

 ehcited in discussion at this meeting. Alas! how inscrutable are the ways of Provi- 

 dence! He has been taken from our midst, and we shall nevermore listen to his bold^ 

 outspoken voice. 



Dr. Trimble writes: '"Iliave a Iriend, an accomplished ornithologist (companion of 

 Audubon), with whom I frequently converse. Once, speaking about quails, I spoke 

 of their having more than one brood a year. He said, 'did you ever see a brood of 

 quails, whether full grown or half grown, without the old birds with them?' In 

 thinking it over, I can not remember that T ever did. The inference follows: the 

 early broods of quails this year, have the early broods next year — the late broods this 

 year, the late broods next year. "Why not so with Curculios?" On broad principles 

 it may be stated that insects diifer from other animals in so far that they do not breed 

 an indefinite number of times in the course of their lives, but that the females perish 

 soon after depositing their first and only batch of eggs. But although a great many 

 insects occupy but a few hours or a few days in laying this batch of eggs, yet many of 

 them require a much longer time. This is eminently the case with our Plum CurcuUo, 

 and indeed with most of the insects in the same great Order of Beetles to which it 

 belongs; and I know that Curculios which hibernated maybe found upon our trees 

 even a few days after the first bred Curculios of the season appear. Again, few 

 persons — even among those skilled in Entomology — are aware ot tiie wonderful influ- 

 ence produced upon insects by climate or by the character of the seasons. To illus- 

 trate : The Oblong-winged Katydid [Pliylloptera oUongifolia, De Geer) in a state of 

 Natiu'e finishes depositing its eggs, and ceases its chirrup by the first of October in 

 the latitude ot St. Louis, and yet this very year, by keeping them within doors and 

 feeding them on green apples, I succeeded in keeping several winch I had hatched 

 from the egg, alive until the first days of December; and though everything was 



