314 INSECT TRANSFORMATIONS. 



genious experiments in proof of this upon several 

 plants, such as the small duck's meat (Lemna minor), 

 and the viviparous fescue grass (Festuca vivipara), 

 which led to the conclusion that they could accommo- 

 date themselves without perishing to the vicissitudes of 

 variable situations.* 



We observed a no less marked instance than those 

 recorded by Mr Gough, in a plant of the geranium, 

 named Prince Leopold (Pelargonium macranlhon^ 

 SWEET), the whole of whose leaves were so hard fro- 

 zen as to break rather than bend. We immersed the 

 whole of the plant in cold water, a few degrees above 

 freezing, till it was thawed, and it recovered so com- 

 pletely, that not a single frosted spot appeared on any 

 of the leaves. I 



Several extraordinary facts relating to insects prove 

 that temperature alone will not account for the varia- 

 tions of the periods of their disclosure. It is stated by 

 Marsham, that Mr Jones of Chelsea, in one of his ex- 

 cursions, caught a female of the spotted muslin moth 

 (Diaphora mendica, STEPHENS), which laid a number 

 of eggs, and he fed thirty-six of the caterpillars hatch- 

 ed from these, till they spun their cocoons and be- 

 came pupae. At the usual season only a third of these 

 produced moths, and he concluded the rest were dead : 

 but, to his utter astonishment, twelve more made their 

 appearance the second season; and the remaining 

 twelve were evolved the third season, as perfect and 

 healthy as those which had been first produced. J 



The same extraordinary fact has been observed in 

 the pupa3 of the small egger-moth (Eriogaster lanes- 

 tris), the greater number of those which spin up 

 in summer appearing in the succeeding February, 



* Manchester Trans, t J R- 



t Linn, Trans, vol. x, p. 402. 



