518 VARIETIES. 



55. Insensibility in Insects. (Vide ante p. 105.) — Sir, A 

 word with reference to Mr. Bird's interesting paper on the 

 sensations of insects. On the 5th of July last, while resting 

 from the heat and fatigue of the morning in the midst of the 

 fens near Whittlesea Mere, I caught a dragon-fly, {/Eschna 

 maculatissima, Lat.), which was temporarily reposing on a 

 blade of grass near me, and I was induced to try an experi- 

 ment with it in regard to its sense of feeling. I held the 

 insect by the wings, and then directed its tail to its mouth, 

 anticipating, from the pre-eminent voracity of these insects, it 

 would at least attempt to bite itself; but, to my astonishment, 

 it not only seized upon its caudal appendages, but actually bit 

 off a portion, which it swallowed, and proceeded gradually to 

 consume its body until the four terminal segments thereof 

 were completely eaten up! — by accident the insect then escaped, 

 and fled away as briskly as ever ! Does not this experiment 

 obviously show that the sense of feeling in insects, (if it exist 

 at all,) must be extremely obtuse ? 



J. F. Stephens. 



5(j. Portrait of Lord Brougham. — On the reverse, as a 



medalist would say, of Hipparchia Janlra, is to be traced a 



very tolerably defined profile, in some specimens no very bad 



likeness, of the Lord Chancellor Brougham. If this curious 



feature in a very common butterfly has not before been noticed, 



which I believe to be the case, perhaps it may be admitted as 



a " Variety" in a corner of the Entomological. 



I am, respectfully, Tykensis. 



Lark-hall Lane, Claphum, 

 Aug. 12, 1833. 



57. Public Entoiuological Collection, — Sir, May I venture 

 a suggestion, which perhaps may appear futile or impracticable? 

 Tn justice to those who undertake the elucidation of some 

 extensive branch of entomology, or the more arduous labour 

 of a Fauna, as one of the irregulars of the camp, I feel it 

 imperative on us, if we do nothing in clearing, at least not to 

 contribute towards encumbering the Augean stable. Were 

 there any public collection in which the describers of new 

 genera and species might deposit examples, labelled with the 

 names, adding to their lucubrations a reference to such cabinet, 



