100 



THE YOUNG NATURALIST. 



pupse, and reared nine moths " of the full coloured specimens of the small 

 trifolii, found in company with meliloti" From these facts Mr. Briggs 

 says, " the following questions suggest themselves First, Ts the New 

 Forest a separate species 01 a dwarfed form of Z. trifolii? Secondly, If a 

 dwarfed form, did the additional heat of the greenhouse aid in developing it ? 

 Third, If a separate species, can these specimens have paired with Z. trifolii 

 previously ? n 



The questions Mr. Briggs does not answer, so that evidently he was not 

 quite certain of having settled the business at that time, and so far as I know 

 he has not continued his experiments. Now is it not very curious — first, 

 that the ova are in all cases larger; second, that the young larvae are dif- 

 ferent ; third, that the wild moth is abundantly distinct from trifolii. And 

 do not these facts point to a possible error or flaw in Mr. Briggs' breeding 

 pedigree ? Nothing is more easy than to accidentally introduce ova of other 

 species, or even young larvse, with the food provided for our foster children ; 

 it has occurred to every one who has done much breeding. I am quite certain 

 that Mr. Briggs was careful on this point, but the best scientist may draw an 

 erroneous conclusion from a slight oversight ; possibly Mr. Briggs may have 

 had Trifolii larvse at the same time for comparison. It does seem to me more 

 than strange that not one of Mr. Briggs' bred Zyganm should have resem- 

 bled the typical parents, as in nature it was abundantly proved that Meliloti 

 produced Meliloti, not in twenties, but by thousands that were captured in 

 1872,-3,-4,-5,-6, and it has been this continual working that has exhausted 

 the locality, as it was a sluggish insect and most easily taken, and not from 

 the district changing, that it is not found there now. Mr. Robson asks if I knew 

 the Forest before the making of the railway, No, I did not, and 1 much 

 doubt if any collecting was done there prior to that : it was this railway that 

 opened up the New Forest to naturalists. But it must be apparent to any 

 one that has travelled along this railway, and walked through the country, 

 that the very slight cuttings — and these only for short distances — of this 

 railway have made no appreciable difference to the plant life of the place. 

 From Lyndhurst Road to Brockenhurst the country is for the most part flat, 

 with heathy boggy places for miles, the cotton grass Eriophorus angustifolium 

 and vaginatum, with Myrica gale, in profusion, clearly showing that it is not 

 a drained district ; for on all sides vegetation is varied and luxuriant, nothing 

 to induce a starved condition of either plant or animal life ; and no one 

 believes in the voluntary starvation of an insect. They do not go under 

 Banting, or take Anti-fat. 



I may mention in conclusion that only on one occasion did I find a larvse 

 of Meliloti, it was full-fed, but unfortunately ichneumoned. It was very 



