4766 Insects. 



of the Editor of the ' Zoologist,' by lengthening unnecessarily my already long article : 

 I should otherwise perhaps have hazarded a suggestion, or rather a query, as to 

 whether this insect, in favourable seasons, may not be somewhat similar in its appear- 

 ance to such insects as Thyatira batis, which " keeps on coming out'' through a great 

 portion of the summer. I say " favourable seasons," for in ordinary seasons its general 

 appearance is confined to the two flights, in spring and autumn, which, as Mr. Bree 

 says, no one doubts. My observation of G. Rhamni on the Continent resulted in my 

 having an impression that the above might be the case, but I cannot, at present, 

 speak with sufficient accuracy as to whether it is so or not. It appears to be an 

 established and undoubted fact that, in this country, many of the spring specimens of 

 this insect are in " perfectly fresh and brilliant condition," as noticed, not only by the 

 "practical entomologist" mentioned by Mr. Bree, but also by every entomologist 

 whom I have consulted on the subject. With regard to the ragged specimens one 

 meets with in winter and early spring, no one, I believe, ever doubted their having 

 hybernated. They present to the eye the same "faded state" which Mr. Westwood, 

 in his splendid work, notices in similar veteran specimens of Vanessa polychloros. 

 Any supposition that Mr. Newman may not have had such opportunities of observing 

 G. Rhamni as some of the practical country entomologists is at once set at rest by 

 his remarks, for it is plain that he has enjoyed the most enviable opportunities of 

 studying this insect. Had I ever been so fortunate as to visit the " happy hunting- 

 ground" in which this beautiful butterfly is to be found all the year round, as 

 Mr. Newman describes, I should, in my limited knowledge of Entomology, have 

 been more inclined to have called it "hundred-brooded" than have cavilled 

 at the term "double-brooded'' being applied to it; for, as one of my corres- 

 pondents, an " eminent Lepidopterist," after writing as follows—" Surely there is 

 a spring hatch of G. Rhamni, as well as an autumn one, and a Christmas-day 

 specimen would differ from an April one ; and if Mr. Newman has taken note of the 

 condition of many April specimens, he must be an active pedestrian, if not l Aliger' 

 himself," very aptly adds, "and if he has seen it on 'New Year's-day, and almost 

 every succeeding day in the year' (except with a pin through it), his locality must 

 beat all 'Forests of Bere' out of the field; and the climate realize the ' ver per- 

 petuum' of the poets.'' Well, upon the face of the acknowledged fact that many of 

 the spring specimens are "perfectly fresh and brilliant," we are now told by 

 Mr. Newman that "his conviction, his firm conviction" is that there is only one 

 brood, an autumnal one We therefore have it asserted, with all the authority of the 

 late President of the Entomological Society, that the brimstone butterfly, emerging 

 from its chrysalis in the autumn, not only survives the winter (which no one doubts), 

 but, after laying its eggs, continues to enjoy a vigorous existence until the eggs it has 

 laid are hatched, the larva? fed up, and the chrysalides ready to burst ; in short, that 

 the period of its existence is a year ; and that all this knocking about the world has 

 rather improved its personal appearance than otherwise. We shall thus have insects 

 approaching nearer to the condition of birds, and shall be led to look for perfection in 

 a specimen (at least of Gonepteryx Rhamni), not as soon as posssble after its ap- 

 pearance from the chrysalis, but rather to wait until it attains to its full adult winter 

 or spring plumage. And now, I beg respectfully to submit that it is Mr. Newman 

 who has made an " interesting and important discovery," and one which, if established, 

 would tend to overthrow all one's preconceived opinions as derived from one's own 

 observations, aided by reference to standard works, upon the economy of insects, 



