HVBERNATION OF INSECTS. 433 



opterous insects, Schmid, to whom we are indebted for 

 some valuable remarks on the present subject*, says that 

 he never found or heard of any Entomologist finding a 

 hybernating individual of the common cockchafer (Me- 

 lolontha vulgar is) or of the stag-beetle (Lucanus Cervus) ; 

 and suggests that it is only those insects which exist but 

 a short period as larvae, as most of the tribe of weevils, 

 lady-birds, &c., that survive the winter in the perfect 

 state ; while those which live more than one year in the 

 larva state, as the species just mentioned, are deprived 

 of this privilege. 



Towards the close of autumn the whole insect world, 

 particularly the tribe of beetles, is in motion. A general 

 migration takes place : the various species quit their usual 

 haunts, and betake themselves in search of secure hyber- 

 nacula. Different species, however, do not select pre- 

 cisely the same time for making this change of abode. 

 Thus many lady-birds, field-bugs, and flies, are found 

 out of their winter quarters even after the commencement 

 of frost ; while others, as Schmid has remarked, make 

 good their retreat long before any severe cold has been 

 felt : in fact, I am led to believe, from, my own observa- 

 tions, that this is the case with the majority of coleopte- 

 rous insects; and that the days which they select for 

 retiring to their hybernacula, are some of the warmest 

 days of autumn, when they may be seen in great numbers 

 alighting on walls, rails, path-ways, &c. and running into 

 crevices and cracks, evidently in search of some object 

 very different from those which ordinarily guide their 

 movements. I have noticed this assemblage in different 

 years, but more particularly in the last autumn (1816), 

 * Illig. Mag. i. 209-228. 



VOL. II. 2 F 



