THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



No. 130.] JUNE, MDCCCLXXIV. [Pbioe 6d. 



Gortyna Jlavago and its Householding. By Edwin 

 BiRCHALL, Esq. 



Truly there is nothing new under the sun. We look for 

 knowledge, but what we mostly find is our own ignorance. 

 Every collector is familiar with the larvae of Gortyna flavago : 

 in many parts of England it is difScult to cut open a thistle- 

 stem in July or August without finding its traces. The moth 

 emerges from the pupa in September, quickly deposits its 

 eggs, and dies ; and there, until lately, my knowledge ended. 

 None of the published histories of the insect, that I have seen, 

 carry the matter further, or state in what condition, or where, 

 the insect exists from September to June. The egg is said 

 to be laid on the stems of burdock, thistle, &c. (' British 

 Moths,' Newman, p. 280) ; but as the old thistle-stem dies 

 down in the autumn, and a new one does not appear for 

 many months, there is an evident want of continuity in the 

 chain of circumstances, and it is left open to conjecture 

 whether the female moth hybernates, or if the egg is deposited 

 in the autumn, when the larva hatches, and what becomes 

 of it, till thistles and June conic round again. I have been 

 able this spring to fill the gaj) in the history of the insect ; 

 but a kind friend having given me a copy of the works of 

 Christian Sepp, and finding that he knew all about it one 

 hundred years ago, I prefer that he should tell the story in 

 his own quaint way, and hojje that your readers will find 

 pleasure in perusing the account of a "Morning's Collecting 

 in the Last Century." Unfortunately, Dutch is a language 

 with which few Englishmen arc familiar, so I venture to offer 

 a translation. The work is entitled ' A Description of God's 



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