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but this was considered precocious, as we could find no others till 

 the first of June. On the third we saw a considerable number, 

 which increased daily, and then declined. On the thirteenth we 

 found only a solitary instance of the last melancholy note of an 

 expiring race, to be heard no more for seventeen years. 



On the fourth of June we found that a few boughs had been 

 operated on by the female, and one on the first. The greatest de- 

 posite of eggs was on the tenth, and declined till the sixteenth, 

 when we found only one. 



The principal male organ of generation lies concealed in a 

 sheathe at the lower extremity of the abdomen, from which it 

 scarcely protrudes. When they come sexually together, the fe- 

 male embraces the male, and holds him in close contact, by means 

 of a hook on each side, turned backwards, and he is immoveable 

 till the process of impregnation is finished. The union continues 

 from fifteen to eighteen hours. When they separate the female is 

 frequently seen flying away with half the male, broken off in the 

 middle region of his body. 



The male and female survive only two or three days after they 

 have performed their respective parts in the process of generation. 

 The male dies first, and the female lives the same time after the 

 deposition of her eggs. They emaciate-rapidly, and at their death 

 are skeletons as light and void of substance as the exuviae cast off 

 by the crysalis. The body is without muscular substance, the ab- 

 domen empty, and no moisture to be found but a little in the head 

 and chest. 



The most remarkable parts of this extraordinary insect are those 

 of the female the machinery by which she works in effecting a 

 depository for her eggs. The ovipositor is lodged in a groove, and 

 lies at the terminating ring of the abdomen, and the oviduct passes 

 through its centre. When not in use, it is concealed, except a 

 minute point at its lower extremity. It is composed of three dis- 

 tinct pieces, connected at the sides by the nicest tongue and groove, 

 by which the two side pieces play up and down upon the centrepiece. 

 The material of these parts is similar in appearance to tortoise 



