218 



INSECT MISCELLANIES. 



a, Ctt7ioj)ho)-ajlaveoluta. b, Ctenophoia ornata. 



posit their eggs, they very soon die, seldom living 

 a kvf days, sometimes only a lew hours, afterwards ; 

 but should pairing be prevented, their lives, and par- 

 ticularly that of the female, may be protracted to an 

 indefinite period. Collectors, indeed, find that it is 

 with the utmost diiliculty a female can be deprived of 

 her life before laying ; and we have no doubt that the 

 marvellous stories reported of the revival of iiies and 

 other insects, after long immersion in spirits, or after 

 being crushed by shutting a book, originated in this 

 circumstance, as well as the prolonged life of some 

 insects, which is given on good authority. Rosel, 

 for example, informs us that he kept a rose-chafer 

 ( Cetonia aurata) upwards of three years, feeding it 

 with fruit and moist bread ; * and Audebert is said to 



* Ineeckten Belustig. iii, 379. 



