We have only three British species of tliis pretty genus of La- 

 treille's, which rival even the Lepidoptera in the beauty of their 

 antennse ; and nature;, guided by the same principle, has bestowed 

 this ornament alike in both Orders upon the males, which still 

 further involves in mystery their use and quality; since, if form 

 were material, the power of one sex would either be very different 

 or very superior to that of the other ; — if the sense of feeling in- 

 deed be the only faculty they possess, their form is not of so much 

 importance ; and like Lehmann we shall be inclined to adopt this 

 opinion, if we consider their general situation, their porrected 

 attitude when in action, and still more the uses to which they are 

 applied. 



Lophyrus Pini is a rare insect in Britain : the female has been 

 taken in Derbyshire, but the pine forests of Scotland are the most 

 productive places for them : L. pallidtcs of Leach was found in 

 the larva state by that gentleman at Oban in Scotland, upon Pinus 

 sylvedris. (PI. 7.) On the 6th of September they spun cocoons; 

 on the l-ith of June following one female hatched, L. riifus 

 King, is not uncommon in the same country, and is also occasion- 

 ally met with at Birchwood, June appears to be the month in 

 which all the species are found in the imago state, and the males 

 are by far the rarest ; that of L. pallidus is unknown, and I have 

 seen but one British male of L. Pini. 



De Geer devotes the whole of tab. 36. vol 2. to the illustration 

 of L. Pini; and his history of it at p. 971 is not less interesting. 

 The larvse (says that author) are gregarious, of an obscure ochre 

 colour with a row of large black spots down the side, when full- 

 grown with another row down the back : they assemble in July 

 upon the branches of the pine in large troops of more than a hun- 

 dred ; they commonly repose along the leaves, having their heads 

 inclined on one side ; they are very voracious, not only devouring 

 the straight leaves of the pine, beginning at the end as one eats a 

 radish, but also the bark of the young shoots ; and after having 

 despoiled one branch of its leaves, they go in a body and fix upon 

 another, until so many branches are stripped that their habitation 

 becomes conspicuous. When touched they raise their heads and 

 let flow from their mouths a drop of clear resin, which has the 

 scent and consistence of that exuding from a wounded branch of 

 the pine. In every state the sexes may be known by their size ; 

 even the cocoons which are fixed to the branches of the pine are 

 much smaller in the males than the females ; the larvae form 

 cocoons about September, but they do not change to pupae until 

 the spring ; and one of Dr. LeacVs caterpillars of L. jiallidus 

 remained two years in that state without nourishment, which could 

 not happen if they were not perfectly secluded from the air : the 

 males bred by De Geer appeared in May, — the females did not 

 hatch till June. 



Lychnis dioica mas. var. alba (White Campion) is figured. 



