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than usual, and when the species, if multiplied by uniform and ordinary fecundity, 

 would either more than exhaust the usual food-plant, and would therefore starve, 

 or would seek other food, and thus defoliate our vegetation. The phenomenon, there- 

 fore, if reduceable to a law, is yet another proof of that ' wisdom of God in creation ' 

 which was the favourite theme of our greatest English naturalist, and the illustration 

 of which is the cherished object of every right-minded teacher at the present day. 

 Before oflfering these remarks to the Entomological Society I thought I would sub- 

 mit the facts to the scrutiny of a second entomologist; and for this purpose I selected 

 the ' Lepidopterologiffi Princeps' at once, thus passing by, not only the habiluSs of 

 what might be called our ' Circumlocution Office,' but also those really hard-working 

 investigators of truth, our Wollastons, our Douglases and our Powers. Mr. Double- 

 day's experience, I am happy to say, exactly coincides with my own. The following 

 extract from his letter contains irresistible evidence of the prevalence of my facts: — 

 ' The first pupa,' Mi'. Doubleday writes, ' that I ever possessed of Acherontia Atropos 

 produced a female moth, in July, and was full of eggs. In 1846 I had a number of 

 larvae of the same species ; these became pupae at the usual time, and eight or ten 

 moihs were produced at the end of September or beginning of October j all the 

 females were barren, their abdomens being quite hollow. Most of the female Con- 

 volvuli that I look the same year [it was the great Convolvuli year] were barren, but 

 I look one or two which laid eggs ; not one of the eggs, however, hatched. I believe 

 the females of some species are mostly barren when disclosed in the autumn ; but 

 where there are two distinct broods of a species, a vernal and autumnal brood, both 

 are fertile. I believe that all species occasionally produce barren females.' " 



Mr. F. Smith read the following extract from a letter addressed to him by Mr. R. 

 T. Grant, from Canada West (Orillia): — 



Letter from Mr. R. T. Grant, West Canada. 



" The first insects make their appearance about the middle of April, on the blos- 

 soms of the sallows, which are very plentiful here, and swarm with insects of all 

 orders, even before the snow has disappeared. Fancy the ground covered with snow 

 to a great depth, and the beautiful butterflies sporting in the hot sunshine. The first 

 to appear is Vanessa Antiopa, which is extremely abundant here ; Andrenidae are also 

 very plentiful ; Andrena Clarkella is here, and A. chrysosceles and a very dark spe- 

 cies, like Clarkella but handsomer. I have also found Colletes, Sphecodes and Halic- 

 tus. You say in your Bee-Book that you know of no other genus among the solitary 

 bees but Sphecodes and Halictus that remain torpid in the winter ; but there is one 

 here, a genus I am quite unacquainted with, very like Halictus ; I have found two spe- 

 cies, both of a beautiful golden green ; the commonest of them is found upon every 

 log or stump." (The bees here mentioned belong to my own genus Angochlora, of 

 which I have enumerated thirteen species from North America, and seventeen from 

 different parts of South America ; they are closely allied to the genus Halictus, and 

 are remarkable for having the eyes more or less reniform, some species distinctly so, 

 like a wasp.) " I have also taken several Nomadae, one Coelioxys, and two species of 

 Stelis, Melecta and Anthophora ; a very large Chelostoma, and four species of 

 Bombi ; also one Apathus. Here are also great quantities of ants, of which I hope to 

 send you a great number. T have met with one species of the genus Tapinoma. 

 The greatest annoyance here is from flies, which in fact are the only things I dislike 



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