Kane — On Irisli Lepidoptera. Ill 



Among the Homoptera three species have been found to possess 

 apterous males, one of which is known to lire underground. Of the 

 Hymenoptera the ants possess apterous individuals as well as those 

 which deprive themselves of wings ; while the Termites among the 

 Neuroptera, and a considerable number of the Coleoptera, chiefly 

 mountain, shore, and marsh-frequenting species, are distinguished by 

 this peculiarity. The restricted nature of their haunts seems to offer 

 some explanation, while the fact that the group of Brachelytra con- 

 tains a considerable proportion of beetles with habits of flight, is 

 indicative of a different modification of organs in a different direc- 

 tion, considering the impediment which full-sized elytra must offer to 

 a flying insect. 



Apologising for the above digression, I shall make a few remarks 

 concerning the possibility of the importation of either the ova or 

 images of foreign insects. There is no question that weevils, and spe- 

 cies of Blatta and Formica, &c., &c., have thus made their way to this 

 country. But the habits of Lepidoptera (with the exception of some 

 of the micros) do not present equal facilities for their importation. If 

 it were otherwise, then we might expect the shores of the Mersey, of 

 the Clyde, of the Bristol Channel, and of the Thames, to be the richest 

 storehouses for rare species ; while, as a fact, the entomologist makes 

 his way to the New Forest, or the fen country in England, or to E,an- 

 noch in Scotland, for prizes, where survivors of indigenous species, 

 such as Nonagria sparganii, every now and then reward patient re- 

 search. The few examples of the introduction of images that have 

 occurred from time to time seem only to prove such instances excep- 

 tional in the last degree. Por instance, at Neath, the splendid North 

 American butterfly, Danais archippus, was taken, a specimen having 

 doubtless been brought over by some vessel entering the Bristol Chan- 

 nel. The ill success, too, which has attended the attempts on the part 

 of naturalists to introduce new species, strengthens the evidence on 

 the negative side. 



An eminent London naturalist lately stated to me that of all the 

 instances of transplantation of Lepidoptera into this country that he 

 had heard of, he was not aware of one instance of ultimate success. 

 The transplanted stock rarely take to the locality, but in a season or 

 two disappear. Another of our leading authorities on the subject is of 

 opinion that many insects are, from time to time, introduced in the 

 imago state by ships, but very rarely find a suitable place to settle. 



Now, with regard to the importation of ova on dried herbage or 

 living plants, it is very evident that the chances of survival in the 

 former case are extremely small, the larva, when newly hatched, 

 having to crawl in search of its food-plant, most of such insects being 

 narrowly restricted in this respect. Every naturalist who has 

 attempted to rear from ova knows that practically there is no chance 

 of survival. But living plants with ova would present a much 

 more likely medium for the naturalization of new sj^ecics. The 



