314 INSECT TRANSFORMATIONS. 



made some ingenious experiments in proof of this 

 upon several plants, such as the small duck's meat 

 {Lemna minor), and the viviparous fescue grass (Fes- 

 tuca vivipara), which led to the conclusion that they 

 could accommodate themselves without perishing to 

 the vicissitudes of variable situations.* 



We observed a no less marked instance than those i 

 recorded by Mr. Gough, in a plant of the geranium, ,; 

 named Prince Leopold {Pelargonium macranthon, ' 

 Sweet), the whole of whose leaves were so hard 

 frozen as to break rather than bend. We immersed 

 the whole of the plant in cold water, a few degrees j 

 above freezing, till it was thawed, and it recovered I 

 so completely that not a single frosted spot appeared 

 on any of the leaves. t 



Several extraordinary facts relating to insects prove 

 that temperature alone will not account for the vari- 

 ations for the periods of their disclosure. It is stated 

 by Marsham, that Mr. Jones of Chelsea, in one of , 

 his excursions, caught a female of the spotted muslin- ' 

 moth {Diaphora mendica, Stephens), which laid a j 

 number of eggs, and he fed thirty-six of the cater- 

 pillars hatched from these, till they spun their cocoons 

 and became pupae. At the usual season only a third 

 of these produced moths, and he concluded the rest 

 were dead: but, to his utter astonishment, twelve 

 more made their appearance the second season ; and 

 the remaining twelve were evolved the third season, 

 as perfect and healthy as those which had been first 

 produced. 4: 



The same extraordinary fact has been observed in 

 the pupae of the small egger-moth {Eriogaster la- 

 nestris), the greater number of those which spin up 

 in summer appearing in the succeeding February ; 



Manchester Trans. f J. R- 



I Linn. Trans, vol. x. p. 402. 



