710 Retrospective Criticism. 



this, and other matter connected with the same subject, in the same page and 

 the next, as follows : — "I have no doubt that in these insects, as well as in 

 Cossus, the larva extends its burrow to the surface. The pupa has not 

 power to force a passage through the bark, nor any apparatus for performing 

 this. A little circumstance, told me by Mr. Stephens, may be here men- 

 tioned, which bears upon the question. He was endeavouring to rear (and, 

 subsequently, reared) the larva of a iSapdrda Carcharias (one of the ceramby- 

 cideous wood-feeders) in a tin bottle, with the mouth stopped with a cork. 

 The larva, before assuming the pupa state, left the wood upon which it was 

 feeding, ascended the side of the bottle, and gnawed a passage nearly through 

 the cork ; and then returned, and underwent its changes : so that, when it 

 arrived at the beetle state, it had no difficulty in gnawing with its jaws 

 through the slight barrier which remained, and escaping. But, in the two 

 moths above described, the mouth is absolutely obsolete. Mr. Guilding's 

 observation may be considered correct, by supposing the aperture of the 

 burrow to be closed with a slight web of silk, or with fine sawdust, as the 

 ' temporary door ;' but, as the larva forms a strong cocoon, no door is 

 needed, unless, as Mr. Robertson asserts, the cocoon opens into the passage, 

 which I much doubt." 



P. 468. In lines 36, 37., for "a row," read "two rows." 



P. 469. In line 34., for " upper," read "front." In line 39., for " Stephens," 

 read " Macleay." 



P. 470. In line 2., for Mandibulata, Pentamera, i^felolonthidse Leach" 

 read " subclass, Mandibulata Clairville ; section, Pentamera Latreille ; family, 

 iucanidae Leach." — J. D. 



The Portraiture and Biograjyhi/ of the Species of huect most commonly 

 observed by Persons engaged in Gardening of any kind, or in Farming. — I once 

 felt a strong wish that an object about correspondent to the above title 

 should be undertaken and prosecuted ; and communicated a notice of it to 

 the Rev. W. T. Bree, perhaps in the hope, and for the purpose, of inducing 

 him to enter on it. His letter, received from him soon after, shows so well 

 the case that I had thought, and still think, desirable to have altered, that 

 I take the liberty to give it here : — 



" Your plan of ' showing up,' in a separate treatise, or in a series of articles 

 for the Magazine of Natural History, the several insects most injurious to 

 our gardens, I highly approve of; but who is to 'bell the cat ?' or, in plain 

 words, who is to do the task as it should be done ? Unfortunately, our 

 great scientific entomologists know (and many of them care) but little about 

 the habits and manners of the insects to which they give hard names, and 

 which, with minute and laborious descriptions, they marshal into their 

 systems ; while, on the other hand, they who are most practically con- 

 versant with the out-of-doors operations of these little creatures are com- 

 monly too deficient in the science of entomology, to name and accurately 

 describe the insects with which they may be acquainted. As for myself, 

 though I may have some little acquaintance with each of these distinct 

 branches of knowledge, I yet feel myself quite incompetent to perform such 

 a task as you suggest. I really am ignorant of the different states of many of 

 the rascals that commit depredations in my garden. I have lent my copy of 

 the EncyclopcBdia of Gardening to a friend, and, therefore, have it not by me 

 to refer to ; but I know that it is not full, nor very accurate, on this subject. 

 Rusticus of Godalming [see the Entomological Magazine^ would be the 

 man for your purpose ; or, rather, he (or such a one), in conjunction with a 

 more scientific entomologist. In forking over a flower-border this spring, I 

 turned up a number of larvae, of what I take to be Hepialus lupulinus. [See 

 Wood's Lidex.] These larvte are enclosed in a long sack, or tube, composed 

 of a very slight we!) and earth, by means of which they ascend and descend, 

 I- cannot bring home to. them any specific charge, but have no doubt they 

 lived on the roots of my flowers (paeonies grow chiefly on the spot [see in 



