22G ' [March, 



by the Eev. Joseph Greene read at the February Meeting of the 

 Entomological Society of London in 1853 (vol. ii, second series, Pro- 

 ceedings, p. 98). 



On December 8th, 1852, Mr. Greene, who was engaged digging 

 for pupae, came to a moderate sized beech tree, of which the roots 

 formed an arch about half a foot in height. As he was on the point 

 of inserting his trowel into the cavity, a faint hissing noise was heard, 

 and he started back, thinking it might be an adder. " Upon a closer 

 inspection, however," he writes, " I discovered, to my great surprise, 

 three hibernating Vanessa Io. Two were attached to the concave part 

 of the arch, the third was on the ground, and the noise I heard pro- 

 ceeded from it. 



" It is difficult to describe the noise exactly, but the nearest 

 approximation to it, is the sound produced by blowing slowly, and 

 with moderate force, through the closed teeth. 



" It was decidedly not a rustling sound, such as would proceed 

 from an imprisoned insect. "While making the noise, the wings were 

 slowly depressed and elevated. To remove any doubt as to whether 

 the sound was produced by the insect, I pushed off one that was 

 adhering to the tree, which immediately commenced the same move- 

 ment of the wings, accompanied by a similar noise. That the noise 

 was produced in part by the movements of the wings is very likely ; 

 but that it was only so, is, I think, improbable, from the fact of the 

 extreme slowness (I might say, deliberation) with which the wings 

 were opened and shut. Strange as it may appear, it certainly struck me 

 that the noise was intended to intimidate ! Whenever I pointed the 

 trowel at it, it forthwith turned towards it, and commenced the noise 

 with renewed vigour." 



Three years afterwards, at the February MeetiDg of the Entomo- 

 logical Society in London in 1856, a note by Mr. "W. C. Hewitson was 

 read (vol. iv, second series, Proceedings, p. 2) on a sound produced by 

 Vanessa Io. 



" One morning, about a fortnight ago, whilst dressing, I noticed 

 something upon the floor, which I took to be a dead leaf driven in by 

 the wind, and was surprised, when I picked it up and placed it on the 

 table, to find that it was a peacock butterfly {Vanessa Io). They had 

 been cleaning out my room, and had driven it from its winter quarters. 

 I had handled it rather roughly, which it resented by spreading out 

 its wings horizontally to their full extent and rubbing them rapidly 

 together ; it produced a distinct sound like the friction of sand paper ; 

 this it continued to repeat for some time, and seemed greatly exaspe- 



