94 OF THE SENSES OF 



the eggs, which she at length laid, proved to be 

 infertile ; and she died soon after. In the instance 

 of a much rarer insect, the Clear Under-wing, 

 (JEgeria asiliformis of Stephens,) having discovered 

 a brood in the trunk of a poplar tree, \ve were 

 desirous of securing all that issued from it ; and 

 having caught a female, we placed her in a box 

 covered with gauze, at the root of the tree, the 

 notion of surrounding the tree itself with gauze, not 

 having occurred to us at the moment. As this moth 

 is one of the day flyers, we expected to make sure of 

 all the males in the neighbourhood ; but, to our no 

 small disappointment, not one approached the box, 

 though we afterwards enclosed in it another female. 

 This was the more remarkable, that, from the protru- 

 sion of the pupa cases from the tree, there was 

 evidently not only one or two, but a considerable 

 number evolved, after the box had been placed there. 

 In 1818, having discovered a beautiful male Crane 

 Fly, (Ctenophora pectinicornis, of Meiger,) apparently 

 just disclosed from the pupa, we carefully examined 

 the old willow stump upon which it rested, expecting 

 to find more of the same brood. Next day, we 

 accordingly observed a female, and imagining it to be 

 one of the rare species, (Ctenophora ornata, or 

 flaveolata,') we placed her in a gauze-covered box ; 

 but no male approached for five days, when a large 

 hunting spider found means to introduce himself into 

 the box, and made a meal of her. 



" There is one extraordinary fact connected with 

 this subject, which is worthy of being prominently 



