414 INSECT TRANSFORMATIONS. 



John Hunter, whose authority stands as high as any 

 on record, found a hive to grow lighter in a cold than 

 in a warm week of winter, and that a hive, from Novem- 

 ber 10th till February 9th, lost more than four pounds 

 in weight,* a loss which could not well be ascribed to 

 evaporation. 



These discrepancies among naturalists so distin- 

 guished as both shrewd and faithful observers, forbid 

 us, we think, to come to any decided conclusion on the 

 subject, till further researches and experiments have 

 been made. It is not improbable, however, that the 

 truth lies in the middle between the two extremes, — 

 for it is quite accordant with what we know both of in- 

 sects and other animals, that a high degree of cold 

 should render them torpid, while they may continue 

 active if there should be a sudden degree of warmth. 

 The following observations by the ingenious Mr Gough, 

 of Manchester, form an interesting illustration of this 

 curious subject with respect to another insect. 



^ Those,' says he, ' who have attended to the man- 

 ners of the hearth cricket {^Jlcheta domestica) know 

 that it passes the hottest part of the summer in sunny 

 situations, concealed in the crevices of walls and heaps 

 of rubbish. It quits its summer abode about the end 

 of August, and fixes its residence by the fireside of 

 kitchens or cottages, where it multiplies its species, and 

 is as merry at Christmas as other insects in the dog- 

 days. Thus do the comforts of a warm hearth afford 

 the cricket a safe refuge, not from death, but from tem- 

 porary torpidity, which it can support for a long time, 

 when deprived by accident of artificial warmth. — I came 

 to the knowledge of this fact,' continues Mr Gough, 

 ' by planting a colony of these insects in a kitchen, 

 where a constant fire was kept through the summer, but 



* Phil. Trans, for 1790, p. 161. 



