(0.) 



The following valuable paper of Dr. Fitch upon some rare insects of 

 the State of New York, was almost lost in publication, from the small 

 number of copies published of the volume in which it appeared, and 

 the difficulty of obtaining access to it. A few copies of the paper were 

 also issued as separates with, with pagination of i-ix, but they are to 

 be found to-day in hardly any of our public libraries, or even in private 

 hands. Its republication, therefore, at this time, cannot fail of being 

 acceptable to entomologists. 



[I^rpm the Atnerican Quarterly Journal of A,^riculture and Science, May, 1847, vol. v, pp. 



274-284. J 



WINTER INSECTS OF EASTERN NEW YORK, 



BY ASA FITCH, M. D. 



It is the object of the following paper, to describe those insects of East- 

 ern New York, which occur in their perfect state in the winter, and are 

 peculiar to that season and the earh'^ part of spring. They are objects of 

 curiosity, as coming forth to our view in full maturity and vigor, at that 

 time in the year when almost every other member of the animal and veg- 

 etable kingdoms is reposing in torpidity under the chilling influence of 

 solstitial cold. In an economical aspect, they possess but little import- 

 ance, their period of life being limited to that season when the field fur 

 nishes no herbage, the garden no flowers, and the orchard no fruits, on 

 which they can prey. They are chiefly interesting, therefore, merely as 

 objects of scientific research — as forming integral parts of that vast ar- 

 ray of animated beings, with which the Father of Life has populated our 

 world, and rendered it vocal with his praise. 



Hence it is to the scientific rather than the agricultural reader, that the 

 following pages are addressed. To him they will be sufficiently Intel Hgi- 

 ble, without such illustrations as have accompanied our previous contri- 

 butions to this Journal. 



A few words respecting the analogies of the two first species here de- 

 scribed, may not be devoid of interest to the general reader. A small 

 insect, destitute of wings, and bearing some resemblance to a flea in its 

 general aspect, is found in the winter season, upon the snow in the northern 

 part of Europe, and also occurs upon the Alps and the Hartz mountains. 

 It has been known for nearly a century, and from its singularly anomalous 

 characters, naturalists have been much perplexed to determine in which 

 particular family of the insect tribes it might with the most propriety be 

 placed. Linnaeus was the first to classify and name it. He regarded it as 



