In the Face of the Cold 
after another week they were again brought in, when only 
eleven were restored to life; a fourth time they were exposed to 
the winter temperature, and only two returned to life on being 
again brought into the cabin; these two survived the winter, 
and in May an imperfect Laria was produced from one, and six 
flies from the other” 
The foregoing account seems to verify more thoroughly the 
stories that have been told than anything else I have been able to 
discover within the limits of entomological literature, but does 
not conclude argument. It would be interesting in these days, 
when methods of artificial freezing have been so highly per¬ 
fected, to undertake a series of experiments to prove or disprove, 
as the case may be, the view which has been held since the time 
of the ancients. There is here a field for nice investigation on 
the part of some reader of this book. In making the experiment 
it probably would be well to select the larvae of species which 
are known to hibernate during the winter and to be capable of 
withstanding a great degree of cold. 
The effect of cold suddenly applied to the chrysalids of 
butterflies at the moment of pupation is often to produce re¬ 
markable changes in the markings. The spots upon the wings 
of butterflies emerging from chrysalids thus treated are frequently 
rendered more or less indistinct and blurred. The dark mark¬ 
ings are intensified in color and enlarged; the pale markings 
are also in some cases ascertained to experience enlargement. 
Many of the strange and really beautiful aberrations known to 
collectors have no doubt been produced by the action of frost 
which has occurred at the season when the larva was pupating. 
The species believed by the writer to be most prolific in aberra¬ 
tions are species which pupate early in the spring from cater¬ 
pillars which have hibernated or which pupate late in the 
autumn. Some are species found at considerable altitudes 
above sea-level, where late frosts and early frosts are apt to 
occur. A number of very beautiful experiments upon the effect 
of cold upon the color of butterflies have been made in recent 
years, and some very curious phenomena have been observed. 
The writer has in his collection a considerable number of 
strikingly aberrant specimens which emerged from chrysalids 
treated to a sudden artificial lowering of the temperature at the 
critical period of pupation. 
5s 25 
