INSECTS IN UNEXPECTED SITUATIONS. 251 



showed itself. Early in the spring of the third year 

 (1832), and without any further labour or care, save 

 that of digging to prepare for another crop, the place 

 was covered with one dense and luxuriant mass of 

 parsley, so thick and plentiful that every seed which 

 had lain dormant for the preceding seasons seemed 

 to have been endued at once with all the power re-^ 

 quisite for a vigorous and fertile existence. 



As your labours may perhaps assist in shedding 

 light o'er " the palpable obscure" which now shrouds 

 the operations of nature in the developement both of 

 insect and vegetable life, I shall dwell no longer on 

 this topic. I pass on, therefore, to another, although 

 I begin to fear you may be tempted to exclaim, 



" What 1 will the line stretch out to the crack of doom ? " 

 .l/flc/>rf//, ActlV. Sell. 



The scarcity or total absence of particular insects 

 at certain periods, and their great abundance at 

 others, is a phenomenon that falls but seldom under 

 the eye of the Entomologist. The discovery of a new 

 or of a rare insect is a result which of course can 

 only occasionally be obtained ; but there is another 

 circumstance, which affords scarcely less pleasure, and 

 which is by no means of such unusual occurrence. 

 I refer to the discovery of insects, already known, but 

 in places where apparently they were not likely to be 



