KIDD'S OWN JOURNAL. 



157 



pretty Primrose; even we, to gain your affec- 

 tion, could never dare to ask or hope it, if Plato 

 be mixed up with it. In our " copy slips " at 

 school, we remember one of the lines we had to 

 copy ran thus — " Plato was wise." He might 

 have been in his way; but he was a frigid old 

 fool ; nor are any of his professed disciples fit for 

 the company of such as thee, little Primrose. 

 Take our word for it ; and keep your heart quiet 

 in its nest. It is not fit to " fly " yet.] 



A Blow to Atheism — the Bee. — That within so 

 small a body should be contained apparatus for 

 converting the " virtuous sweets" which it col- 

 lects into one kind of nourishment for itself, 

 another for the common brood, a third for the 

 royal, glue for its carpentry, wax for its cells, 

 poison for its enemies, honey for its master, with 

 a proboscis almost as long as the body itself, 

 microscopic in its several parts, telescopic in its 

 mode of action, with a sting so infinitely sharp 

 that, were it magnified by the same glass which 

 makes a needle's point seem a quarter of an inch, 

 it would yet itself be invisible, and this, too, a 

 hollow tube — that all these varied operations and 

 contrivances should be enclosed within half an 

 inch of length, and two grains of matter, while 

 in the same small room the large heart of at least 

 thirty distinct instincts is contained — is surely 

 enough to crush all thoughts of atheism and ma- 

 terialism. — If people would but " think" more, 

 Mr. Editor, and ponder upon these things, there 

 would surely be a much less amount of moral evil 

 in the world ? -Amicus. 



[You are right. It is because people will not 

 " think," preferring the sensual before the intel- 

 lectual, that society is what it is.] 



Vanessa Antiopa. — I believe, Mr. Editor, this 

 insect is generally considered by entomologists 

 as of rare occurrence in this country. I must 

 confess here, that I cannot speak of my own ex- 

 perience, never having seen a living specimen in 

 England — that is to say, a specimen bred from 

 caterpillars absolutely English from the egg. 

 I have however bred the perfect insect in this 

 very parish, from caterpillars brought by myself 

 from Switzerland. I had some difficulty in 

 bringing over the caterpillars ; they mostly went 

 into chrysalis en route, and many died from the 

 difficulty of getting quite fresh food. Still I have 

 by me several specimens of these very Antiopa-, 

 but they cannot fairly be called " British" spe- 

 cimens. The fact, however, that Vanessa An- 

 tiopa was seen by a professional friend of mine in 

 the green lanes at Stoke Newington, near the 

 residence of the Reverend Mr. A. Clissold, and 

 my friend, who is a good entomologist, having 

 assured me that he had ample time for observing 

 the insect (what a pity he had not his entomolo- 

 gical instruments as well as his surgical ones by 

 him, for Vanessa Antiopa will not fly into a gen- 

 tleman's hat !), and that it had the rich yellow 

 border and not the pale white one — has induced 

 me to send you a few observations of my own 

 upon this insect. I must first state that Vanessa 

 Antiopa was seen as above, on Thursday, 

 the 15th of last month. I shall begin then by 

 observing, that the caterpillars of Antiopa are 

 gregarious, and in the Canton de Vaud, Swit- 



zerland, may be found in immense families on 

 the summits of the highest branches of the Salix 

 Caprea. About the latter end of June, or the 

 beginning of July, they are generally full grown. 

 They seldom remain in chrysalis more than from 

 eighteen to twenty days. The perfect insect is 

 found the latter end of July, or about the be- 

 ginning of August. At the second brood, the 

 perfect insect may be seen from the end of 

 September to the first fortnight in October. After 

 this period, it is only occasionally seen, for a 

 short time, on very mild days — it then hyber- 

 nates. Here I must pause, just to say that in 

 both these broods the color of the perfect insect 

 on escaping from the chrysalis, is precisely the 

 same. I scarcely know how to express this 

 coloring. It appears to me, a rich velvety claret 

 black, and the external border a rich, pale, 

 golden yellow, slightly irrorated with rich claret 

 black. This is sufficient for my purpose, Mr. 

 Editor ; and for obvious reasons I go no further. 

 The insect it appears then hybernates, and 

 remains concealed under the bark of old trees, 

 in the clefts of rocks, under the gables of houses, 

 &c. &c. It there passes the winter in a dormant 

 state, till the warm spring revives its energy. 

 It frequently becomes so brittle from the intense 

 cold, that if you lay hold of it by its wings, 

 they will snap like glass. Vanessa Antiopa is 

 not, however, aroused from his lethargy so early 

 as some of his congeners. The earliest period 

 when I have recorded his appearance, is the 

 3rd of March, 1846. Whereas I have seen 

 Mhamni on the wing in January, — Urticce 

 and Polychloros in February, — Io on the 1st 

 and C. album on the 3rd of March, and even 

 fair Cariui on the 4th. So you see, Mr. Editor, 

 our friend Antiopa is rather lazy; but you know 

 large bodies move slowly, and more especially 

 when they consider themselves personages of 

 some note. Now, Mr. Editor, when the sun 

 begins to shine with a certain degree of bril- 

 liancy, aye, and between the hours of eleven and 

 one, to give a certain degree of heat too, fancy 

 yourself on the borders of some rushing rivulet, 

 which, like Antiopa, has just begun to feel the 

 influence of old sol (say between the middle 

 and latter end of March). You will, if you have 

 chosen a good locality, seldom miss seeing more 

 than one Antiopa, soaring anon above the 

 stream, slowly descend on some bit of broken 

 rock just rising above the flow of the water — 

 expand his noble wings, and thoroughly enjoy 

 himself. A splendid specimen is he of the 

 wonder-working hand of God. The winter 

 however has blanched his golden border, and he 

 appears with one of creamy white irrorated with 

 blueish claret. The intense richness of his 

 mantle has also faded, and has become blueish 

 claret — his finely-turned border, owing to its 

 great brittleness and the boldness of his flight, is 

 very much injured. In truth, I have never seen 

 an hybernated Antiopa with the external border 

 perfect, and I have heard much older and better 

 entomologists than myself express the same 

 thing. I have a great many specimens, and one 

 wonderfully fine. I cannot however say he is 

 perfectly faultless. Of my friends with the 

 yellow border, I have a great many, and quite 

 blameless — fresh as fresh can be. I could fill 



