4900 Insects. 



that it would appear " the height of absurdity" if we were in reality less acquainted with 

 the history of our Papilionidag than of the NepticulaB ; but surely those entomologists 

 who, like Mr. Stainton, have devoted themselves exclusively to the study of Micro- 

 Lepidoptera, and have done the most to bring about such a state of things, ought to 

 be the last to find fault with our ignorance of the larger groups. Mr. Stainton 

 informs us, on the authority of Professor Zeller, that Papilio Machaon is double- 

 brooded in Germany ; such, I admit, may be the case, but am very certain there is 

 only one brood of the species in this country, and am confident all British entomolo- 

 gists who have had opportunities of judgiug will support my opinion: the same 

 remarks will also apply to Melitsea Selene and M. Euphrosyne. It appears to have 

 been the custom in former days to imagine there were two broods of any of our 

 Lepidoptera, of which examples might be found in the perfect state in May and 

 August ; but it is now a well-known fact that many species which pass the winter in 

 the pupa state emerge therefrom throughout the whole of the following summer : two 

 common examples, Notodonta Camelina and Acronycta Psi, may be given ; the larvae 

 of these species may be found in all stages of growth from July to October, and the 

 perfect insects from April to August following ; the larva?, which become full fed in 

 July, produce in the early spring specimens of the imago, whilst those which do not 

 assume the pupa state till late in the year emerge in the following July and August: 

 a succession of specimens is thus produced, as in the case with Papilio Machaon, &c. 

 It seems needless to add to Mr. Doubleday's unanswerable facts on the perfect condi- 

 tion of hybernated specimens. I will just add that Theristes caudella is well known 

 to pass the winter in the perfect state, and occurs in perfect condition in the spring : 

 on the 5th of June last I took a specimen of this species on Coombe Hurst, in the 

 finest possible condition ; of course this insect had existed in the perfect state since 

 the preceding August or September : if such a delicate creature as this, possessing as 

 it does the most ample cilia to the wings of any of our Lepidoptera, could survive the 

 last severe winter in such an exposed locality without injury, we surely cannot be 

 surprised at seeing G. Khamni in good condition in the spring. — Edivin Shepherd ; 

 176, Fleet Street, October 4, 1855. 



Double-broodedness of Gonepteryx Rhamni, — So many letters having lately been 

 published in the ' Zoologist' under this head, I would not trouble you with the 

 following, did I not think it would tend to throw some light on this much-discussed 

 question. Your correspondent, the Rev. Mr. Greene, asks " Has any entomologist ever 

 seen G. Rhamni, either fine or otherwise, on the wing either in June or July?" In 

 answer to which I beg to state that on the 12th of June last I took several specimens 

 (and saw numbers of others) in Bickly Vale, on the river Plym (about five miles from 

 Plymouth), in very fair condition, far better than they could possibly have been, I 

 think, had they passed the winter in a torpid state, and been subject to the changes of 

 our last cheerless spring : the warm, sunny days at the end of February and beginning 

 of March usually bring out those that have hybernated, and had these specimens been 

 on the wing since that period, whenever the weather permitted, I think they would 

 have presented a most forlorn and ragged appearance, instead of a very fair one (the 

 few previous days to the 12th having been rainy and cold, which might have 

 destroyed their first brilliant appearance). In Devonshire the food of the larva, 

 Rhamnus catharcticus, would probably, even in backward seasons, be sufficiently ad- 

 vanced to afford them support by the middle of April, so that no very rapid progress 

 would be necessary to produce the perfect imago by the beginning of June ; again, 



