Observations upon the Lunar Hornet Sphinx. 1 9 



sometimes, in the Mediterranean, 2 ft. long. (Diet. (P Hist. 

 Nat., t. 25.) It has been long separated from the gurnards 

 by the French naturalists, and should have a different Eng- 

 lish name, as it is totally distinct from that family. 

 Plymouth, Sept. 5. 1836. 



Art. IV. Observations upon Trochiliani crabroniformis, the Lunar 

 Hornet Sphinx. By the Rev. W. T. Bree. 



Many insects, I believe, are reputed to be rare only because, 

 from our ignorance of their habits and mode of life, we know 

 not how to search for them. There are insects, too, which 

 are commonly met with in one state of their existence, and 

 but seldom seen in another. Some are more frequently found 

 in the imago, or perfect, state ; others in that of larva. Not 

 that they may not, in fact, be equally abundant in each state ; 

 but they are obvious in the one, and less so in the other. The 

 caterpillars, e. g., of nearly all the British species of the genus 

 Hipparchia (and, probably, the remark might be extended to 

 the foreign species also) are seldom met with, although several 

 of the species are among our most common butterflies. For 

 instance, Hipparchia Janira swarms, in its season, in every 

 meadow and field of grass; and, if we except the garden whites 

 (Pontia brassicse and rapae), is perhaps the most abundant 

 butterfly we have ; and yet I never met with the caterpillar 

 of this species but once, and then by mere accident : I was 

 walking through a meadow of grass ; and, feeling something 

 in my shoe, on examination I found it to be a green cater- 

 pillar, which in due time changed to a chrysalis, and produced 

 Hipparchia Janira. How abundant, again (to take another 

 instance), are several species of the little blue butterflies (Poly- 

 6mmati)on our downs and chalk-hills! yet these, as caterpillars, 

 are quite unknown to me ; nor are they depicted in any ento- 

 mological work to which I happen to have access. Of course, 

 these caterpillars must, at any rate, be as numerous as the 

 butterflies which are produced from them : we may safely say, 

 more numerous ; for all do not come to perfection : some will 

 be accidentally destroyed. No doubt, they feed on the short 

 herbage which grows in the situations where the butterflies 

 are found ; for the latter, for the most part, do not stray far 

 from the spot where they are bred. Probably they keep close 

 to the surface; and, perhaps, like some other larvae, they may 

 feed by night : at all events, they are not obvious, and, I be- 

 lieve, are very rarely found. The above are instances of 

 insects frequent in the winged state, but seldom found in that 



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