THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 51 



stances at worV, such as peculiaritv of season, locaHl}^ &c., 

 to exercise an influence. Although we found in captivity a 

 large number of females emerge first, and in a state of nature 

 some few sometimes did, these facts would not prove a gene- 

 ral law. The only proof that can be accepted of such general 

 law must be given by Nature herself, with unerring uni- 

 formity, perfectly untrammelled by man. It is no answer to 

 vsay we have not been able to make the necessary observa- 

 tions to establish the law, and must theretbre draw our infe- 

 rences from insects we ourselves may breed. Some might 

 be inclined to think that little or no disturbance from natural 

 law takes place in the breeding of insects. Probably, when 

 an insect is fed from the egg, on a living plant, in the open 

 air, there is no disturbance worth mentioning ; and the 

 answers given by such insects, as to their time of appearance, 

 &c., properly averaged by various seasons, might be taken as 

 the voice of Nature. But it is very different when larva3 are 

 taken from their food-plants in all sorts of stages, and their 

 ieeding is finished off by providing them with cut branches 

 in confinement. It is no doubt very annoying to a caterpil- 

 lar to be suddenly jerked off his food, thrust into a close box, 

 and then, after some hours, to find himself among a lot of 

 crowded twigs in a breeding-cage. Who can wonder at some^ 

 of the creatures thus treated becoming sulky, or even sicken- 

 ing, and refusing their food for some days ? In many cases 

 this may cause a delay in their arrival at maturity, and con- 

 sequently in their emergence in the imago state. It is true 

 that in a lot of larvae thus treated they all stand the same 

 chance ; but some may accidentally fare worse than others, 

 and it is this very uncertainty that we ought to avoid in de- 

 ciding such a question as this. We do not want to infer 

 this and that ; we want to see and to demonstrate. Then 

 again, supposing the pupa is dug never so carefully, in the 

 most approved fashion of our great mentor Mr. Greene, do 

 not the disinterment and exposure, and after treatment of a 

 pupa in our breeding-boxes, introduce a number of disturb- 

 ing influences, sufficient to upset all grounds of accuracy in 

 the determination of a general law ? In this question it is 

 clear we are only safe under the guidance of Nature. But 

 then Nature is so diflScult to observe ! This is unfortunate 

 for us, but it is no valid reason for giving up our observations. 



