5908 



An EnlomologisC s 



fires in the scrub and grass, the upturning of acres of busliy and grassy 

 land, may in some measure account for this, for by these causes my- 

 riads of insects must be destroyed. As agriculture succeeds to gold- 

 digging, and profitable crops take the place of worthless scrub and 

 grasses, we shall perhaps lose many local species which are now 

 abundant. I recollect that Mr. Dickson told me this was the case 

 with heaths: many beautiful species, each confined to a very limited 

 locality in its native country, at the Cape, are now found there no 

 longer, the demand for sale, together with the extension of building 

 and agriculture, and the species not being capable of successful pro- 

 pagation here in England, having caused their extermination. Every 

 one of these had perhaps an insect depending on it for support, and 

 with the heath has perished the insect. In all probability this will 

 be the case in Australia, where the species are excessively local; and 

 most earnestly do I exhort our entomological brethren to describe 

 and figure all they can, while yet they have the opportunity of 

 doing so. 



I made many attempts at breeding Lepidoptera, but succeeded only 

 with a few Bombvcina and a few dozens of a very abundant Thecla, 

 the larvae of which I found full fed : most that I got turned sulky and 

 would not eat, and so died. One larva, which I never succeeded in 

 rearing, particularly attracted my attention : I found it feeding nearly 

 all the year round, and appearing gregarious, for I sometimes found 

 them twisted together in masses as large as my hand, but generally 

 there would be perhaps a dozen in company : their colour was nearly 

 black, tinged along the sides with a dusky dirty yellow : when dis- 

 turbed they would jerk up the head and tail, ejecting a thick filthy 

 yellowish fluid from the latter. But the great singularity of the crea- 

 ture was that each would turn its head towards some one of the four 

 cardinal points: out of a dozen perhaps three would jerk up their 

 heads, and hold them exactly facing the south, three others would 

 point them to the north, three to the west, and three to the east, the 

 four directions of pointing being at right angles; the tails after a 

 while would resume the horizontal position, and seem to become en- 

 tangled and intertwined with each other, the whole party forming a 

 most remarkable figure. Whether this is for warmth, or for coolness, 

 or for protection from ichneumons, or for love of one another, or be- 

 cause they cannot help it, I am unable to say ; but it is a sight worth 

 seeing. [Mr. Davis has described a similar larva, but has not noticed 

 its pointing to the cardinal points, which may possibly be accidental ; 



