10 



THE YOUNG NATURALIST. 



for the season of 1884, at least, let us hope 

 so. 



We would like to see lists from readers in 

 other parts of the country. 



BRITISH MOTHS. 



By John E. Robson. 



The Genus HYBERNIA. 



In the third volume of this magazine a 

 brief paper was given shewing the young 

 collector how to recognize the wingless 

 females of this and other genera of Winter 

 Moths. Plates were also given of the whole 

 of the species, and of several varieties. The 

 present seems an appropriate time to treat 

 more fully on the various species, appearing 

 as they do, during those months that seem 

 least likely for insects to emerge from pupa, 

 and when cold and storm are not the in- 

 ducements to lead the Lepidopterist forth 

 with net in hand. It is a problem worthy 

 of careful investigation to enquire why those 

 species that emerge, during what are gen- 

 erally called the winter months, have so 

 nearly all wingless females, and why so few 

 of those appearing at other seasons are 

 apterous. I am using the term " wingless " 

 in its practical sense, for though most of 

 them have some rudiments of wings, they 

 are, in none of the species to which I refer, 

 of the slightest service for flight. I am not 

 aware that any reason has been given for 

 this, and the only suggestion I have to make 

 must not be taken for more than a sugges- 

 tion only. The season at which these species 

 emerge is the stormiest of the year. The 

 trees are stripped of their leaves, and the 

 shelter afforded by woods or hedges, from 

 severe winds, is less at this period than at 

 any other. Insects fitting about from tree 

 to tree would be more liable to destruction, 

 and it may therefore be that partly from 

 disuse, and partly from the fact that those 



that could not fly were more likely to escape 

 during the prevalance of a storm, their 

 wings may gradually have become aborted 

 as we find them. A corroborative case may 

 be quoted. " Mr. Wollaston has discovered 

 the remarkable fact that 200 beetles, out of 

 the 550 species inhabiting Madeira, are so 

 far deficient in wings that they cannot fly ; 



j and that of the twenty-nine endemic genera, 

 no less that twenty-three have all their 

 species in this condition ! Several facts, — 



' namely, that beetles in many parts of the 

 world are frequently blown into the sea and 

 perish ; that the beetles in Madeira, as ob- 

 served by Mr. Wollaston, lie much conceal- 

 ed, until the wind lulls and the sun shines ; 

 that the proportion of wingless beetles is 

 larger on the exposed Desertas than in 

 Madeira itself; and especially the extra- 

 ordinary fact, so strongly insisted on by 

 Mr. Wollaston, that certain large groups 

 of beetles, elsewhere excessively num- 

 erous, which absolutely require the use 

 of their wings, are here almost entirely 

 absent ; — these several considerations make 

 me believe that the wingless condition of so 

 many Madeira beetles is mainly owing to 

 the action of natural selection combined 

 probably with disuse. For, during many 

 successive generations, each individual 

 beetle which flew least, either from its 

 wings having been ever so little less perfect- 

 ly developed, or from indolent habit, will 

 have had the best chance of surviving from 

 not being blown out to sea; and, on the 

 other hand, those beetles which most readily 

 took to flight would oftenest have been 

 blown to sea and thus destroyed " (Darwin, 

 Origeti of Sjyecies) . 



The genus Hybernia are represented in 

 this country by five species— Mvpicapraria, 

 Leucophearia, Aurantiaria, Progemmaria, 

 and Defoliaria. On the continent two other 

 species are found — Bajaria, which is pretty 

 generally distributed, and Ankeraria, a 

 species not described till 1861, and which 



