444 HYBEIINATION OF INSECTjS. 



of earwigs. Two or three individuals of Libia qua' 

 drimacidata showed more torpidity. When first unco- 

 vered their antenutB were laid back; and it was only 

 after the sun had shone some seconds upon them that 

 they exhibited symptoms of animation, and after stretch- 

 ing- out these organs began to walk. Close by them 

 lay a single Khynchctnus Pomorum^ but in so deep a 

 sleep that at first 1 thouglit it dead. It gave no sign of 

 life when placed on my hand, quite hot with the exer- 

 cise of digging; and it was only after being* kept there 

 florae seconds, and breathed upon several times, that it 

 first slowly unfolded its rostrum, and then its limbs. 

 It deserves remark, that all these insects, thus diife* 

 rently affected, were on the same side of the tree, uH'* 

 der a similar covering of bark, and apparently equally 

 exposed to the sun, which shone full upon the covers 

 ing of their retreat^. 



All insects, however, do not undergo this degree of 



> " Since uritinj;- the above, I have had anotljcr opportunity of confinn- 

 in£;the observations here made. 'J'he hist w^-ek of Janufiry 1817, in the 

 nei^'ibonrliood of Hull, was most delieioiii ^^eathe^ — calm, sunny, dry, 

 and genial — the wind sonth-wesf, the thermometer from 47" to 52° every 

 day, and at night rarely below 40"; in fad, a week much finer than we 

 can often boast of in INIay : the 27t!i of the montli was the most- delig^ht- 

 ful day of the whole : the air swarmed wit!) Trichocera /liemalis, Psychod(F, 

 and numerous other Diptera^ and the hushes were hunjj with the lines of 

 the gos=amer-s])ider as in a-.itumn. Yet, with the exception of yiphodius 

 contaminuliis, 1 did not observe a single coleopterous insect on the wing, 

 Bor even an individual tempted tocrawl on the trunks of the trees, under 

 the dead bark of which I found many in a very lively state. Five or 

 six iiulividualsof //rt?<?ctt Nemonnn were still very lethargic ; and two of 

 Scaraba^us siercorarius, which I accidentally dug up from tlseir hyber- 

 nacula in the earth at the depth of six or eight inches, though the 

 Acari upon them were quite alert, exhibited every symjitom of complete 

 torpor. 



