2554 Insects. 



ruptions from Cove-hurst — consisting of a long track of broken ground, which slopes 

 from the cliff to the beach in a very wild, irregular and rugged manner, chiefly covered 

 with bushes and herbage of various descriptions, as alders, hazels, sallows, &c, here 

 and there intersected by rills of water, and overlooked by Fairlight glen and the 

 Lovers seat, distant from Hastings about three miles by the road, but nearer by the 

 beach. It was a glorious hot day when I reached the place (Saturday, June 2), 

 uncertain whether I had judged correctly that the insect would appear in the spring, 

 as well as autumn : after all it was an experiment, and it succeeded. The first day 

 I captured forty-one specimens, but (alas! and dismal to relate!) unfortunately nearly 

 all of them became quickly spoilt, through rubbing themselves in the boxes or bottles, 

 which formed the only means of carrying them home, with which I was then pro- 

 vided. This insect, when newly-born, is clothed with a fine yellow-ochreous matter 

 or powder, which the slightest touch or humidity instantly removes. The consequence 

 is evident : unless you can secure it as soon as it makes its first appearance, its beauty 

 is gone. I tried various methods: boxes and bottles I found entirely fatal the very 

 day ; quills only large enough to admit the insect, and only long enough to contain it, 

 without allowing room for it to move backwards and forwards are the best vehicles to 

 adopt for transit that I can recommend, unless entomologists pursue the somewhat slow 

 process to which I subsequently resorted, of stifling and pinning them upon the spot. 

 Their elytra however are so hard, that a pin, unaided, will not penetrate; so I 

 adopted a recommendation, with which I was furnished by Mr. Walton, and procured 

 some glovemaker's triangular-pointed needles, with which to drill first a hole through 

 the elytron for the admission of the pin, otherwise the latter will infallibly bend. It 

 is necessary to be very careful not to touch the insect with the finger, but being pro- 

 vided with two of the needles, fixed into handles, to hold it down firmly with one, and 

 pierce it with the other. The only certain and effectual method of stifling them 

 speedily is by the fumes of prussic acid : but it is proper to be careful, lest even the 

 three or four drops required for the purpose should touch the insect. It is found upon 

 the leaves and stems of the thistles, and also at the roots of the plants, but I never 

 saw one upon the flower: it pierces the stem, and I presume lays its egg by the side 

 of the hole, pushing it in with its rostrum, and this also serves to remove all the 

 bloom from that member, and turn it black. I did not perceive any of the young 

 grubs, but its egg is perfectly smooth, and of a delicate flesh colour, but I was unable 

 to preserve any, as after a few days they collapsed and dried up. In its habits this is 

 apparently a timid species : Mr. Walton in a letter to me last year remarked : " I 

 have no doubt from its analogy to paraplecticus that the moment it sees, or hears you, 

 or on the slightest unnatural motion being given to the plant it is on, it instantaneously 

 draws up its legs, and drops down." This I found frequently the case, but it was 

 generally the younger examples which were so timid, for many an one would show 

 itself so perfectly unconcerned at my approach, as to allow me to take it off its station 

 with ray finger and thumb, just as if these older and more worn examples knew that 

 they were secure from my cupidity in their faded condition. Others again would show 

 themselves sensible of my proximity first by desisting from feeding, next by inclining 

 themselves backward from the plant, with their four anterior legs stretched out, the 

 tarsi only just touching the stem, but their hinder legs and abdomen still pressed 

 against it; till convinced of the presence of danger, all their legs would instantly be 

 drawn closely to the body, and down they would fall. I watched the proceedings of 

 many, and sometimes tried what amount of alarm each would sustain before throwing 



