806 



THE YOUNG 



NATURALIST. 



Why does one white butterfly deposit 

 its eggs on cabbage, and another in 

 the same garden on Tropoelium ? Why 

 does one butterfly seek honey from one 

 flower and another from a different 

 flower ? Does the same species differ 

 at all it its habits? Do even the 

 early brood and the late brood differ 

 in these respects? All these and a 

 thousand more questions might be 

 asked, and who can reply? "What 

 do we know ? " We have but very 

 few British butterflies, yet there are 

 several of them respecting which we 

 appear to know very little. We cannot 

 tell with certainty, in what state many 

 of them pass the winter. An article on 

 their hybernation appeared lately in a 

 contemporary by a well-known entomo- 

 logist, and in it, it is said that C, edusa 

 passes the winter as a larva. Is this 

 really so ? Other suggestions are made 

 by other writers, and the very fact that 

 there is a difference of opinion is a 

 proof that we know but little about it. 

 We really do not know how some of 

 our commonest butterflies pass the 

 winter. Of others we do not know 

 how many broods there are in a season. 

 One writer makes one statement quite 

 positively, and another asserts just the 

 opposite with equal certainty that he 

 is right. They do not contradict each 

 other, they merely state what they 

 believe; but the fact is, so much 

 is copied from books, so much 

 is assumed, that where knowledge 



terminates and conjecture begins is 

 not easy to say, In September, of last 

 year, we asked a question of an Ento- 

 mological friend with reference to the 

 number of broods of F. urticce. In 

 our opinion his Entomological know- 

 ledge far exceeded our own, but he 

 stated that this species was never 

 known to pair before spring. Before 

 the week was out we had some larva 

 and pupae presented to us, and a record 

 was made in our columns of the double 

 broodedness of the species last autumn. 

 Hut again we would ask " What do we 

 know?" Is this a regular occur- 

 rence ? " Certainly it is not so far as 

 our knowledge goes, but that is not 

 very far. 



What is the object of these 

 rambling remarks ? First, to call our 

 readers attention to the kind of obser- 

 vations that are needed to be made. 

 We do not necessarily want something 

 new — that cannot always be had. But 

 we want observations that convey in- 

 formation. We have pointed out before, 

 that in making notes, it is often as 

 important to repeat an observation as 

 make it for the first time. A circum- 

 stance noticed once, may be a chance 

 occurrence; if seen frequently, it 

 would appear to be a habit. But if 

 only recorded once, the regularity of 

 its occurrence would only be known to 

 those who had often seen it. On this 

 subject we have spoken again and 

 again, and will probably often do so in 



