HYBERNATION OF INSECTS. 441 



bernacula in the attitude which tliey ordinarily assume 

 when at rest ; but others choose a position peculiar to 

 their winter abode. So most of the Carahidcc adhere 

 by their claws to the under side of the stone, which 

 serves for their retreat, their backs being next to tlie 

 ground; in >^hich posture, probably, they are most 

 effectually protected from wet. Siaphi/linus sanguino' 

 lentus, Gravenhorst, and others of the same family, 

 coils itself up like a snake, with the head in the centre. 

 The majority of insects pass the winter in perfect 

 solitude. Occasionally, however, several individuals 

 of one species, not merely of such insects as Ilarpalus 

 {Carxihus, L.) jjrasinus, Cimex apteri/s, &c., which 

 usually in summer also live in a sort of society, bat of 

 others which are never seen thus to associate, as Jlal- 

 tica olcracea^ Carabus inlricatus. and several CGCcinellcp, 

 &c. are found crowded togetlier. This is perhaps often 

 more through accident than design, as individuals of 

 the same species are frequently met with singly ; yet 

 that it is not wholly accidental, seems proved by the 

 fact that such assemblages are generally of the same 

 genus and even species. Sometimes, however, insects 

 of dissimilar genera and even orders are met with to- 

 gether. Schmid once in February found the rare Lo- 

 mcchusa strnmosa, Gnivenhorst, (Slap/ij/linuSy L.) tor- 

 pid in an ant-hill in the midst of a conglomerated lump 

 of ants, with which it was closely intertwined^. 



By far the greater proportion of insects pass the 

 winter only in one or other of the several states of 

 egg, pupa, larva, or imago, but are never found to hy- 

 bcrnate in }nore than one. Some species, however, 



