212 BARON WALCKENAER ON THE INSECTS 



M. Duponchel tliat after the progress which Jiad been made by the 

 united efforts of French and German naturalists in this branch of ento- 

 mology, we could not recognise a butterfly which had been twice drawn 

 and described by skilful naturalists, and which must be common, since 

 its caterpillar was so. To this M. Duponchel replied that he thought 

 I was mistaken in supposing myself certain of having distinguished the 

 caterpillar described by Bosc, because the description given of it by 

 this naturalist in his memoir is so far from precise that it may be ap- 

 plied to all the caterpillars of this genus which ha^e green bodies and 

 black heads, but which differ in other characters of which he does not 

 speak, such, for example, as the colour of the verrucose points with which 

 all the caterpillars of this group are decorated. As to the butterfly, the 

 description and figure by Bosc, the description by Fabricius, and Coque- 

 bert's figure, drawn from the individual described by Fabricius in Bosc's 

 collection, may equally be applied to the four following species of 

 Phalaenae : the Cerasana and Riberana of Treitschke, and the Corylana 

 and Fascimut of Fabricius. The last approaches more nearly than 

 the others to Bosc's description ; but this species is also described by 

 Fabricius, and Bosc has not recognised it as his own. Still more, after 

 saying that Reaumur had not anywhere mentioned the caterpillar which 

 was the subject of his memoir, he adds : " It appears to be equally rare 

 in otlicr climates, for neither Linnaeus, Fabricius, nor Scopoli has de- 

 scribed the Phalasnaa wliich it produces." 



From these researches and explanations it appears that if the PyraUi 

 Danticmui^Pyralis Fite/ia of Fabricius, has not been confounded by him 

 and Bosc with the Fasciana ; tliat if it be not the same species as the 

 latter, it must be considered as a species still unknown, and which can- 

 not be well known until we have bred all the caterpillars found upon 

 the vine which resemble the one described by Bosc. To deduce this 

 deficiency in science is almost to acquire the certainty of its being 

 speedily supplied. Although the silence of the Italian naturalists rela- 

 tive to this caterpillar be not a decisive reason for thinking that it is not 

 found in Italy, and did not receive from the ancients the name of /«- 

 volvulus, yet this is more especially true with regard to another cater- 

 pillar to which the names Convolvulus and Involvulus appear more ' 

 peculiarly applicable. More attentive observations have been made 

 upon this caterpillar than upon that described by Bosc, and its butter- 

 fly is Avell known as the Procris ampelophaga, or Procris of the vine so 

 much dreaded by all the cultivators of Tuscany. This caterpillar some- 

 times injures considerably the buds and young shoots of the vine. In 

 Piedmont it sometimes devours half the vine-plots. It is five or six 

 lines in length, and two lines or two and half in width ; its colour is a 

 brown gray, and the hair is disposed in stars in four longitudinal rows 

 in semi-globular relief towards the anterior part. The inferior surface 



