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Notes on the Moth named Saturnia Luna — the Domesticjtion 

 of' Foreign Butter jlics — and the Geographical D'lsir'ihution 

 of Insects. Conimunicated by Jam f.s Wilson, Esq. F. R. S. E. 

 &c. 



1 HE most remarkable fact in the history of this beautiful species 

 of moth, which is a native of North America, or, I ought ra- 

 ther to say, of certain individuals of the species, is, that through 

 the zeal and ingenuity of Mr Sommer, a German merchant, 

 who resides in the Danish town of Altona, the eggs transported 

 from a North American port have been hatched in Europe, and 

 the perfect insect eventually produced in a state of the greatest 

 beauty. I am not yet acquainted with the means made use of 

 by Mr Sommer in rearing the caterpillars, nor with the name 

 or nature of the plants on which they were fed ; but these and 

 other particulars in the history of th.is interesting colony may 

 be afterwards inquired into, and, I doubt not, will be freely 

 communicated. 



Mr Sommer is well known among the scientific collectors of 

 Hamburgh and Altona, and possesses an entomological cabinet 

 of singular beauty and of great extent in the only department 

 which he cultivates, that of the Lepidopterous order. The 

 science of Entomology has been so prodigiously extended within 

 these last few years, that, with the exception of Latreille, and 

 one or two others of more than usual talent and perseverance, 

 who have cultivated and adorned the universal field, the follow- 

 ers of this science have been obliged each to content himself with 

 a mere section of the subject. Thus, Jodart and Duponehel 

 have illustrated the Lepidoptera, Baron Dejean the Coleoptera, 

 and Professors Fahleen of Lund, and Wiedemann of Kiel, the 

 Dipterous tribes. Gravenhorst, indeed, has lately published 

 three very thick volumes upon a family of Hymenopterous in- 

 sects, the IchneumonidcB alone. With the numerical extent of 

 that particular family I am not acquainted, but the total amount 

 of known species embraced by the science of Entomology, has 

 been estimated at one hundred thousand. When we consider 

 how many singular facts an attentive observance of the history 

 and habits even of a single species brings to light, we may form 



