436 HYBERNATION OF INSECTS. 



tivinty of being in the neighbourhood of their appro- 

 priate food the next spring. By wintering in the pupa 

 state, these accidents are etfectually provided against. 

 The perfect insect is not ready to break forth until the 

 food of tlie young, which are to proceed from its eggs, 

 is sprung up. 



To the insects which hybernate in the larva state, of 

 course belong, in the first place, all those which exist 

 under that form more than one year; as many jMcIg- 

 lonthae^ Elateres^ Ceramhyces^ Buprestes, and several 

 species of Libelhda^ Ephemera, &c. There are also 

 many larvse which, thougli their term of life is not a 

 year, being hatched from the e^^ in autumn, neces- 

 sarily pass the winter in that state, as those of several 

 AnoMa and other wood-boring insects ; of Tortrix W(£' 

 herana and others of the same family ; of the second 

 broods of several butterflies, &c. Many of these re- 

 siding in the ground or in the interior of trees need no 

 other hybernacula than the holes which they constantly 

 inhabit ; some, as the aquatic larvae, merely hide them- 

 selves in the sides or muddy bottom of their native 

 pools; while others seek for a retreat under moss, dead 

 leaves, stones, and the bark of decaying trees. Most 

 of these can boast of no better winter quarters than a 

 simple unfurnished hole or cavity ; but a few, more 

 provident of comfort, prepare themselves an artificial 

 habitation. With this view the larva oi Bomh7/x Cos- 

 sus, L., as formerly observed in describing the habita- 

 tions of insects% forms a covering of pieces of wood 

 lined with fine silk; those o^ Bombi/x Hu7nuli, Noctua 

 radicea, and some other moths, excavate under a stone 



* Vol, I. 2d Ed. 435. 



