Insects. 1581 



So far, then, there does appear an analogy of feeling between man 

 and insect. But I find that the moth when impaled on the tree does 

 not struggle ; and therefore, if the analogy hold, I cannot for the life 

 of me see why John should kick so at being impaled — he must have 

 been shamming. 



And it seems rather surprising that this did not occur to Mr. 

 Wollaston, but — I forget — there is the slow circulation. It is true 

 this circulation appeared quick enough when the impaled insect was 

 put into a bottle, and the bottle plunged into hot water ; but then we 

 may imagine that this was the result of an increased temperature. 



Now, take any other of the Smith family, when asleep, and impale 

 him with an iron bar, and when he begins to kick release him ; and I 

 very much fear he will not at once quietly compose himself, as if 

 nothing had happened, which I find to be generally the case with im- 

 paled moths. Neither would he alternately suffer by day and be at 

 rest at night, as moths, mutatis mutandis, do if struggles indicate 

 pain. 



Would it not then appear, either that the struggles of impaled 

 moths do not proceed from pain, or else that there is no analogy be- 

 tween the communication of pain in man and insects, and, conse- 

 quently, that the test is inapplicable ? 



I feel an interest in collecting such Lepidoptera as fall in my way, 

 and try to learn something of their individual history ; but I am no 

 scientific entomologist, and know nothing of the discoveries that may 

 have been made in the nervous system of insects. With regard to 

 man, it is, I believe, an established fact that the nerves are the means 

 of communicating feeling ; but I am not aware that any such con- 

 nection has been satisfactorily traced between feeling and what are 

 called nerves in insects — but I speak under correction. Could any- 

 thing at all similar to what I have mentioned of Xylina Lambda have 

 occurred to Mr. John Smith or any of his family ? But — 

 " ne sic, ut qui jocularia, ridens 

 Percurram ; quanquam ridentem dicere verum 

 Quid vetat ? " 



I will briefly state that I have endeavoured to consider the subject 

 impartially, and view it in a broad light: had I been captiously 

 inclined there was an ample field before me, but I am not, my sole 

 object being to state fairly the result of my observations, and discard 

 everything that appeared irrelevant, without the slightest wish to in- 

 fluence the judgment of any one, beyond what these observations may 

 seem to justify. 



