HVBERNATIO.N 01" CATERPILLARS. 19-3 



particular facts seldom accord witli actual nature, and 

 ought never to bo indulged in by naturalists who study 

 accuracy. Another catfT|)illnr, not uncommon in 

 gardens, on the hollyhock and other plants, would at 

 once disprove such an inference: we allude to that of 

 the angle shades [Phlog^opltora mrlitulosa, Ochsf.n- 

 hei.'mkk). This caterpillar, which is exceedingly 

 smo! t!i, aiid is remarkable for changing in its last 

 nioidt from a clear green to a yellowish brown, we 

 have found during the whole winter in the folds of the 

 fresh leaves of hollyhocks, cabbage-lettuce, savoys, 

 &c, quite livelv, and feeding in open weather by no 

 means sparingly. Its defence tiom cold njay perhaps 

 consist in a superabundant supply of Iht, which we 

 may infer tliat it possesses from the soft flabby aspect. 

 It is this circumstance which seems to protect whales 

 from the polar coJd; as well as bears during their tor- 

 pidity. 



Some caterpillars seem to have no less power of 

 resisting severe cold than eggs; as authentic instan- 

 ces arc recorded of their revival after being frozen 

 stiff, — a circumstance also reported of some serpents 

 in North America.* Dv Lister in this way revived 

 caterpillars frozen so hard as to chink like stones when 

 thrown into a glass;! ^"^1 ^1'" Stickney exposed some 

 grubs of a common crane-fly ( Tipula olcrocca, Li.nn.) 

 to a severe frost, till they were congealed into masses 

 of ice, yet several of them survived..]; Riaumur, 

 however, was unsuccessful in similar experiments on 

 the gregarious moth of the tir {Cml/ioca)npa Pihjo- 

 campa, Stephe.ns), so celebrated among the ancients 

 as a poison ;§ for none of them survived a cold of 2° 

 below zero, Fahr., by which they were frozen to ice.|| 



* John Hunter, Oba. on .Anim. Fcon. p. 99. 

 + Goedart, Insect, p. 79. :|: Kirby and Spcncc, Intr. ii, p. 

 453. 

 § Piin. Hist. Nat. 38, 9. II Mem. ii. 



