LEPIDOPTEROUS IXSECTS. 95 



stated, namely, that after insects pair, and the 

 females deposit their eggs, they very soon die, 

 seldom living a few days, sometimes only a few hours 

 afterwards ; but should pairing be prevented, their 

 lives, and particularly that of the female, may be 

 protracted to an indefinite period. Collectors, indeed, 

 find it is with the utmost difficulty a female can be 

 deprived of her life before laying ; and we have no 

 doubt, that the marvellous stories reported of the 

 revival of flies and other insects, after long immersion 

 in spirits, or after being crushed in shutting a book, 

 originated in this circumstance, as well as the 

 prolonged life of some insects, which is given on 

 good authority." * 



It is a most singular circumstance, in the case 

 above quoted, that moths which have not met with a 

 mate, should live so considerable a time beyond the 

 limits ordinarily prescribed by nature ; and it would 

 be difficult, on physiological principles, to account for 

 it. There are also some instances of butterflies 

 continuing their existence even for months, as may 

 be instanced in the Peacock Butterfly, the Nettle 

 Tortoise-shell Butterfly, and several others, which 

 are hatched late in the autumn, and live in a torpid 

 state till the spring, when they meet with a mate. 

 Had these been hatched earlier in the summer, and 

 laid their eggs, they would have died, like most of 

 their congeners. 



* Insect Miscellany, p. 217. 



