ON ENTOMOLOGY. 19 



century some French refugees'in the South of Ireland, made consider- 

 able plantations of the mulberry, and had begun the cultivation of silk 

 with every appearance of success ; but since their removal, the trees 

 have, been cut down. In the vicinity of London also a considerable 

 plantation of mulberry-trees were purchased by the British, Irish, and 

 Colonial Silk Company in 1825; but I have not learned whether this 

 company have any active measures now in operation. 



The six spot BURNET HAWK MOTH (Anthrocera Filipendula) appears 

 the end of June or beginning of July. Wings one inch one half to 

 seven twelfths, first pair azure blue with six blood red spots, second 

 pair deep red with an indistinct dark blue margin, abdomen spotless 

 black ; Caterpillar primrose yellow, with three rows of black spots on 

 the back, and a row of smaller ones on each side, head black, feeds on 

 plaintain, clover, dandelion, mouse-ear, hawkseed, quake grass, &c. 

 Chrysalis yellow ; common in the North of England, Devonshire, South 

 Wales, and near London. 



The HONEYCOMB MOTH (Galleria Cereana) does very considerable 

 damage to the hives of Bees. The Moth appears about the end of June 

 or beginning of July, and when in danger it runs rather than flies, 

 gliding with such celerity, that they can easily elude the vigilance of 

 the Bees ; which indeed, if we may trust Swammerdam, never attack it, 

 nor prevent its entrance into the hive, unless it chances to brush 

 against them in its passage. But Reaumur actually saw the Bees pursue 

 one though without success. It becomes easy for a Moth, at all events, 

 to lay eggs among the combs or, as Keys says, at the entrance of the 

 hive. This writer adds she spins a close and strong web to defend the 

 young, which is impossible, as no insect subsequent to its larva state 

 can spin. The Caterpillar wherever it passes, says Swammerdam, 

 gnaws round holes through the waxen cells j one Caterpillar sometimes 

 breaking open and destroying fifty or sixty cells. Wherever it penetrates, 

 it always fabricates a hollow tubulated web, in which, as a rabbit in 

 its burrow, it can very swiftly pass from one part to another, and 

 speedily run back again. It fills the whole comb with such webs, and 

 turns itself in them every way into various turnings and windings, so 

 that the Bees are not only perplexed and disturbed in their work, but 

 they frequently entangle themselves by the claws and hairs of their legs 

 in those webs and the whole hive is destroyed. 



The next division of the seven orders, is NEUROPTERA. The 

 ANT LION (Myrmeleon Formicaries.) The observations of the continen- 

 tal naturalists have made known to us a pitfall constructed by an insect, 

 the details of whose operations are exceedingly curious ; we refer to the 

 Grub of the Ant Lion, which, though marked by Dr. Turton and Mr. 

 Stewart as British, has not (at least of late years) been found in this 

 country. As it is not however uncommon in France and Switzerland, 

 it is probable it may yet be discovered in some spot hitherto unexplored, 

 and if so it will well reward the search of the curious. The Ant Lion 



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