1342 Insects. 



I have a fine bush of this plant, growing on an apple-tree, and have found a great 

 many moths at it this spring : I never thought of examining it before. The holly, 

 when in flower, will I think, prove attractive, but unfortunately I have none here to 

 examine. The Portugal laurel is very strongly scented, but I have found but few 

 moths at it, though it may be more attractive elsewhere. I have no doubt that many 

 more shrubs, &c. attract moths, and I shall be glad to see them noticed in the 

 ' Zoologist.' The golden rod and the Michaelmas daisies attract vast quantities of 

 Hymenoptera and Diptera in the autumn, but I have never seen any Lepidoptera at 

 them except one or two butterflies. — F. Bond ; Kingshury, Middlesex. 



On the treatment of Insects when captured. — In the last ' Zoologist ' (Zool. 1240) is 

 a note on the treatment of Coleoptera when captured. The article is evidently dic- 

 tated by the purest feelings of humanity, but you must admit that it charges entomo- 

 logists (at least indirectly) with wanton cruelty, a charge against which I will endea- 

 vour to defend them. When I first became a collector, the apparent sufferings of my 

 captives for a time deterred me from the pursuit ; but afterwards I determined to try 

 if I could ascertain whether the struggles of insects did really proceed from pain ; and 

 the conclusion at which I arrived was, that they do not. As, however, the mere asser- 

 tion of an opinion without anything to support it, may appear dogmatical, I will state 

 the method I pursued. Finding a Noctua during the day at rest on a tree, I pierced it 

 with a pin without its showing any signs of animation ; this surprised me, and I fixed 

 it in a box where it remained motionless until the evening (the time it would have 

 been on the wing), then it struggled very much, but surely not in agony, but only to 

 effect its escape ; for if the struggles were the result of its being impaled, would they 

 not have taken place sooner ? I next caught a butterfly and pierced it in like man- 

 ner, and I admit it struggled to the utmost ; but again, I think, not in agony, but 

 only to extricate itself that it might enjoy its mid-day flight ; for in the evening it be- 

 came perfectly still and exhibited no signs of suffering. These insects I kept impaled 

 several days, and I invariably found that the former was still and the latter restless 

 during the day, and the reverse at night. Am I not then justified in concluding that 

 struggling is not the result of agony, but merely an effort to escape from imprisonment 

 that the insects may rove at their appointed time ? I infer too, from these and similar 

 experiments, that what we call pain is felt by insects in a very small degree ; for I 

 think it will be admitted that pain is destructive of life, but insects will live almost as 

 long when impaled as when they are at large ; and even this difference may possibly 

 arise from some chemical action of their juices (for want of a better word) on the pin. 

 This is the case of Lepidoptera ; that of Coleoptera is different, for during summer 

 most of them appear at all times active, and therefore impale them when you may, 

 they will struggle, but I think not in agony ; if it were so, their very sufferings would 

 soon destroy them, whereas I have found them revive after having been impaled for 

 two days, and exposed all the time to an atmosphere strongly impregnated with cam- 

 phor and spirits of turpentine. With all deference to Mr. Dawson, I must be allowed 

 to doubt whether the sufferings of the impaled Coleoptera were greater than they would 

 have been if exposed to a camphorated atmosphere to undergo the process of stupefac- 

 tion : but I fully acquiesce in his method of ultimately destroying them, and consider 

 his plan of plunging the bottle into boiling water preferable to immersing the insects : 

 the colours will be less injured, and life almost as soon extinguished. I seldom collect 

 Coleoptera, but do so occasionally. The method I adopt is different from either of those 

 mentioned by Mr. Dawson ; and as it cannot well be taxed with cruelty, and has 



