contributed more generally in this way than insects: the row- 

 ing of the Boat-fly, the diving of the Dytici, the spinning of 

 the Caterpillar, the masonry of the Bees, the paper-making 

 of the Wasps, and the boring of numerous tribes, are all arts 

 practised by man. The Caterpillar of Zeuzera j^sculi is one 

 of those which lives in timber: for the purpose of boring, it 

 has the first thoracic segment horny above, the smoothness 

 and strength of which enable it with greater facility to accom- 

 plish its object: the body is fleshy, yellow, and naked, and 

 the apex is pi'otected by a horny shield. These characters, 

 however, will apply to numerous larvae of totally different 

 families, and this, I fear, will prove a great barrier to the 

 formation of any arrangement of the Lepidoptera based en- 

 tirely on their structure, however successfully such characters 

 may be employed in many groups. 



Z. JEsculi is undoubtedly closely allied to Cossus (PI. 60), 

 the oeconomy of the larva3 is the same, and consequently they 

 are considerably alike in form and structure; but on the other 

 hand, the Imago of the former is more nearly related to that 

 of Stauropus (PI. 674), in the structure of the antennae and of 

 the trophi, yet nothing can be more dissimilar than the larvae. 



Mr. A. Mathews, who made a few observations on the 

 oeconomy of Z. ^scidi, states, that he discovered some saw- 

 dust protruded from a small hole in a pear-tree ; on removing 

 the bark he found a cavity nearly a foot long, first descending 

 a short space and then ascending and gradually approaching 

 the centre of the tree, and at the extremity was the larva. 

 The head was uppermost ; it would therefore have to turn and 

 possibly descend before it became a pupa; if not, the abdominal 

 spines, like those of Hepialus and Troch ilium, would enable 

 it in this stage to remove to the aperture in the bark; yet how 

 large moths make their exit through such small holes has often 

 puzzled me, since their mouths cannot assist them, and the 

 young caterpillars entering the tree as soon as they are 

 hatched, the orifice must be very minute, if not altogether 

 closed : perhaps before that period arrives, birds and even 

 insects may enlarge the entrance through the bark, beneath 

 which the cavity is large enough. The larvae are long-lived, 

 and the moths appear from the end of June to the end of 

 August: they have occurred in St. James's Park and many 

 other places in the vicinity of London, at Milton, Stilton, 

 Cambridge, Norwich, Ipswich, Epping, Burghfield, Leaming- 

 ton, Andover, Dorset, Allsley, &c. The larva feeds on the 

 wood of the apple, pear, lime, mountain-ash, horse-chestnut, 

 walnut, ash, einj, beech, birch, hazel, oak and holly. 



The plant is Sapofiaria offictnalis, Soapwort, communicated 

 by J. J. Ben net, Esq. 



