172 1 January, 



The vein that clasps this notched or filed one when the wings are 

 rubbed together is not difficult to find in the costal vein of the hind- 

 wing, recognisable by a bare raised surface, curved outwards, with a 

 smooth bevel above where it comes in contact with this filed vein ; but 

 it likewise only presents this character at the base, for if we trace it 

 outwards, we soon notice its upper surface to sink in a series of sharp 

 notches beneath the feathery scales ; the tasteful chequering, notching, 

 and glossy colours of which serve to throw the bare veins bearing the 

 parts of the instrument of music into relief. But this is not all : in 

 each of these butterflies there is an organization which I would compare 

 to the mirror of the males of the leaf -crickets in structure and object ; 

 for we find at the fore side of the costal vein the wing-membrane is 

 bare in a little circular patch which is embossed, a provision, I con- 

 clude, to impress the musical tremours arising from the friction of the 

 filed vein on the air. 



Lastly, I think we may strictly infer, from the experiment of the 

 Hev. J. Greene and the seance vouchsafed to myself, that the object 

 of this stridulation in Vanessa To and urticce may be classed with 

 those phenomena of rivalry and love so conspicuous in the Orthoptera 

 and large Semiptera, but of an intensity of expression marking a 

 degree of intelligence little superior to that manifested in this direction 

 by stridulating beetles, in which it has been most often alluded to 

 under the epithet of fear. Yet I must here observe, V. lo will also 

 utter this sound when disturbed in sunning itself, and I have reason 

 to think also when the male and female are coquetting in air. And 

 here it is singular that the development of the file allows the female 

 to take precedence of the ardent male, the reverse being the rule 

 in musical insects generally. 



In conclusion, I may mention that I have by me careful drawings of 

 the musical organization in each of the insects specified ; one of these 

 {ctntea, p. 1G9) showing its appearance in the female lo beneath a strong 

 microscopic power, is an illustration of a very perfect development of 

 an insect-file in the Lepidopiera-Rlwpulocera, or butterflies. It will 

 scarcely be necessary to add that the stridulation of V. urticce is 

 improperly noticed in Uagen's Bibliotheca Entomologica, ii, p. 477, 

 and that the reference there sluuild be to V. lo. 



Culiiis : Octoler lUh, 1S76. 



