LEPIDOPTEROUS INSECTS. 91 



universal law of nature, the reproduction of their 

 kind. This is prettily told by Darwin, in the follow- 

 ing lines : 



Hence, when the moms,* in Italia's lands, 



To spring's warm leaves its timid leaf expands, 



The silk-worm broods in countless tribes above 



Crop the green treasure, uninform'd of love ; 



Erewhile the changeful worm, with circling head, 



Weaves the nice curtains of his silken bed ; 



Web within web involves his larva form, 



Alike secured from sunshine and from storm ; 



For twelve long days he dreams of blossom'd groves, 



Untasted honey, and ideal loves, 



Wakes from his trance, alarm'd with young desire, 



Finds his new sex, and feels ecstatic fire ; 



From flower to flower, with honey'd lips he springs, 



And seeks his velvet loves on silver wings. 



Mr John Henry Davies, curator of the museum of 

 the Portsmouth Philosophical Society, has recorded 

 some curious and satisfactory observations on the 

 subject.-f- He says, " It has been asserted, that the 

 males of lepidopterous insects are guided to the 

 females by a peculiar instinct ; so that an unimpreg- 

 nated female being carried in a wire cage along the 

 hedges and other haunts of this tribe, will attract the 

 males of that species, so that they may be easily 

 captured. 



" I have never had an opportunity of trying this 



* The mulberry tree. 



f- Zoological Journal) vol. v. p. 142. 



VOL. I. G 



