VARIETIES. 103 



Encyclopedic Methodique, &c. Applications for further in- 

 formation is to be made to M. le Pasteur Studer, at Erlen- 

 bach, canton of Berne. 



2. Vitality of CEstrus Ovis.— On the 26th of September 

 last, being at Ventnor, in the Isle of Wight, I observed on the 

 walls of the house a fine specimen of CEstrus Ovis. Having 

 captured the insect, I pierced it, and being about to leave for a 

 day's excursion, I set the wings out, knowing that Dipterous 

 insects generally die speedily. I believe I opened the box 

 several times before my return to town, but the insect appeared 

 perfectly still ; at least I did not observe any thing to attract 

 my attention. But, on the 8th of October, I was about to 

 unpin the specimen and consign it to my cabinet, when, to my 

 surprise, I found it still alive, and comparatively strong and 

 active. Entertaining, as I do, the opinion that insects are not 

 susceptible of much sensation, I am still averse from allowing 

 them to remain pierced when they may so readily be deprived 

 of life by the process described in Vol. II. p. 436; but in this 

 case, I thought the fact so remarkable, that a departure from 

 my ordinary plan, which had been unavoidably carried so far, 

 might be permitted, for the sake of ascertaining to what extent 

 vitality, under such circumstances, might exist. I examined 

 the box day by day, and it was not till the evening of the 13th 

 that I found the legs motionless ; even then they were suf- 

 ficiently pliable to be moved so as to set the insect out. I am 

 not aware whether there is any instance on record of life 

 enduring in an insect, especially of this order, for so long a 

 period. Regarding its peculiar economy and habits, it appears 

 to me to be an interesting fact, and affords, I think, a pretty 

 conclusive argument against those who contend for " beetles 

 and flies suffering as much pain as the human species, or the 

 lower warm-blooded animals," — a doctrine so frequently to be 

 met with in all and sundry the books written for the young on 

 Natural History. It would be a curiosity indeed in physio- 

 logical science could we hear of a man, pinned by a lancer's 

 spear to the earth, resisting hunger, cold, and pain, for sixteen 

 days ; or of a turnspit dog, who should be spitted in his turn, 

 whining out his breath for a fortnight, without even the smell 

 of the cookery to which he had been accustomed. 



I trust it will not be thought that I am contending for the 



