Insects. 5149 



the insect is double-brooded, as there seems to be no reason whatever to doubt that 

 precisely the same result would have occurred out of doors. The birch tree upon which 

 I found the eggs was in full leaf, so that the larvae would have had no ground of com- 

 plaint as respects food, and there was nothing in the weather from June to August 

 which would be likely to retard their arrival at maturity. Every entomologist, I believe, 

 allows that Notodonta ziczac, N. dromedarius, N.dictsea and N.dictaeuides are double- 

 brooded, and that the eggs laid by the second brood in August produce larvae which 

 are full-grown in October and often November. Why should not the same result, 

 most naturally, take place with camelina ? I myself have frequently taken the larvae 

 of camelina in November, and have no doubt whatever in my own mind that they 

 were the produce of moths bred in August from a spring brood of larvae. I am as 

 fully aware as Mr. Shepherd of the premature autumnal development of many of our 

 moths when reared in confinement ; but I have strong doubts as to the correctness of 

 the term " premature," and am inclined to think that the same result occurs occa- 

 sionally in the natural state. I may mention a curious instance, which confirms my 

 suspicion, and also supports an assertion which I made in my article of the 7th of 

 November, 1855 (Zool.4952), that there was sometimes a very late autumnal brood of 

 Clostera reclusa. When staying, a short time since, with Mr. C. R. Bree, of Stow- 

 market, I saw, in the collection of a neighbour of his, a specimen of C. reclusa, which 

 was taken, some little time since, near Stowmarket, quite late in the autumn : the 

 captor, a worthy farmer who collects for his own amusement, was very much puzzled 

 when, upon referring to his books, he found that the insect only appeared in the spring 

 and early part of the summer, and was delighted when I told him that I had bred it 

 in the autumn. I am firmly convinced that much yet remains to be discovered with 

 respect to the breeding of our Lepidoptera; and I cannot conclude this paper, which 

 I have already extended to far greater length than I originally intended, without 

 expressing an opinion that that tendency which seems to be rife among metropolitan 

 entomologists to brand every new opinion propounded by a country entomologist as 

 untenable and absurd, is calculated to do the greatest possible damage to the delightful 

 and interesting science of Entomology. — H. Harpur Crewe; Pyle Farm, Horndean, 

 Hants, May 13, 1856. 



Do the Males of certain of our Lepidopterous Insects become possessed of an instinc- 

 tive knowledge of the " whereabouts" of the Females even before the latter emerge from 

 the Chrysalis state P — The following occurrence goes far to convince me that they do. 

 On the 2nd ult. I observed a male specimen of Biston prodromarius resting on the 

 trunk of an oak in Cokethorpe Wood, close to the ground. As I happened to be in 

 want of a male specimen, I took this one without noticing its condition, having no 

 doubt, from the very conspicuous situation it was occupying, that it was just "out," 

 for alter an insect has once flown it is generally artful enough to conceal itself pretty 

 securely. However, I found on examination convincing proofs that this fellow had 

 been some time on the wing. It soon after occurred to me that very possibly there 

 might be " a lady in the case," and that the object this gentleman had in view 

 in placing himself on that particular spot was that he might he " the first in the 

 field,"— the first to woo the expected fair so soon as she should burst the bands which 

 held her in thrall ; for in love, in war, in chess and some other games the first 

 " advance," if not " half the battle," is at least held to be an important step, and of 

 infinite advantage to the party making it. I determined therefore to revisit the spot 

 at proper intervals, if haply my suspicions might prove to be well founded. The 



