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Remarls on certain species of the Lepidopterons genus OrHiPERES, 

 and their capacity for piercing the epicarp of fruits ; hij 

 George L. Pilcher. 



Having seeu that the Moths, Opdiideres fuUonia, materna, 

 imperator, and salaininia, have been exciting attention, both in 

 England and France, on account of then* snj^posed power of 

 piercing through the rind of oranges, in order to suck the j aices 

 of the fruit, I may, I hope, be pardoned for presenting the 

 results of my own observations as regards the conclusions which 

 have been arrived at. 



M. A. Thozet, of Eockhampton, was the author of the letter 

 in the " Rockhamptou Bulletin," May, 1875, which is quoted 

 both by Mr. F. Darwin in his paper in the " Journal Micro- 

 scopical Science," on the Structure of the Proboscis of 0. fuUonia^ 

 and also by M. Kilnckel in his paper, read by M. Emile 

 Blanchard before the French Academy of Sciences, and copied 

 into the " Gardener's Chronicle," though it appears that M. 

 Thozet had written to M. Kunckel on the subject before. 



M. Thozet states " that 0. fidlonia punctures the rind of the 

 orange, extracts the juice in the corresponding division of the 

 orange, leaving free access to the air, and withdrawing the 

 support to the rind, which, of course, sinks as soon as decomposi- 

 tion begins," and the fruit falls. 



Mr. Darwin's and M. Kunckel's remarks are on the structure 

 of the proboscis of the moth, and its adaptation to the facts men- 

 tioned in M. Thozet's letter. 



