34 



gate for hibernation. Very often, it is true, they are found singly, 

 but it is by no means unusual to find three or four, or more, in the 

 same corner of the room. Mr. Frohawk tells me of one case 

 observed by him of nine Aijlah. urticcf, all close together, practically 

 touching one another. In September, 1918, I went into an empty 

 house in which almost every room had half a dozen or more butter- 

 flies on the ceiling, while the window sills were littered with dead 

 ones, V. io, A. intinc, and Euiionia pnlychloms. 



Of Melitita ciu.da the larvae hibernate gregariously when young 

 beneath the shelter of leaves spun together close to the ground, 

 while the winter nests of Kiiproctis c]injsorrhcca = i>]iae(itliaea and 

 Apuria crat(r<ji are well known. 



Some of the Ladybird beetles show a marked partiality for 

 window frames, and the sash-cord boxes at the sides ; hundreds of 

 the Two-spot Ladybirds may often be found in such a situation, 

 with the Seven-spot Ladybird usually in smaller numbers. Certain 

 Carabid Beetles also, Anchjuieiiits (lo)-saiLs, Calatlms )iiclanocephalus, 

 etc., frequently congregate in large numbers under stones, etc., 

 during the winter, though they are scarcely true hibernators. 



Other instances of insects that hibernate in colonies are of course 

 the Ants and the Honey Bee, but these must be placed in a different 

 category from those just noted. In both these cases the impreg- 

 nated ? 5 survive for a number of years, living in protected colonies 

 or nests with a large number of workers. The insects, however, do 

 not become torpid, but require frequent feeding throughout the 

 winter. 



To return to those insects that only attain the perfect state and 

 pass their brief lives, mating and reproducing their kind, all within 

 the winter months. These belong to various orders, <?.//., Lepi- 

 doptera {Cheimatobia, Hybeniia, Nyssia, Pcecilocanipa, etc.), Neu- 

 roptera [Boreua), Diptera {(Jhionea, Tridiocera, etc.), and CoUembola. 



A noteworthy feature about those species of moths that emerge 

 during the winter months is the large proportion of them that have 

 only rudimentary wings in the female sex. Examples of this 

 phenomenon are found in different families, in the Amphiiladd<£ 

 {Pldyalia and Xyasia, but not in Bistun and Ainphiilasis), in all the 

 Uyberniidai, in the Larentiidce (one genus only, Chimatohia), in 

 Diurnea fa<jella, etc., so that it is not due to origin from a common 

 ancestor with a wingless $ . There are also a few groups with 

 wingless ? $ that emerge during the summer, ^.//., the genus '^/y/y/a 

 and the Psyclddce, etc. Nevertheless, from the fact that this feature 



