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 

 November 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 

 insects and other animals, that a high degree of cold 

 should render them torpid, while they may contmue 

 active if there should be a certain degree of warmth. 

 The following observations by the ingenious Mr. 

 Gough, of Manchester, form an interesting illustra- 

 tion of this curious subject with respect to another 

 insect. 



"Those," says he, "who have attended to the 

 manners of the hearth-cricket {Acheta 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 multi- 

 plies 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 temporary torpidity, which 

 it can support for a long time, when deprived by 

 accident of artificial warmth. — I came to the know- 

 ledge of this fact," continues Mr. Gough, " by plant- 

 ing a colony of these insects in a kitchen, where a 

 constant fire was kept through the summer, but 

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



