246 



THE YOUNG NATUEALIST. 



wings being held tightly were prevented 

 thus from damaging their beauty. To this 

 retention they strenuously objected, vig- 

 orously protesting with a constant succession 

 of loud squeakings, and the muscular power 

 of the wings was such, that at times I could 

 scarcely prevent the insect freeing itself from 

 my fingers. Now whenever I pressed the 

 tongue the noise ceased, commencing again 

 as soon as the pressure was removed. Let 

 me state that the moths were stupefied with 

 chloroform, and then being conveyed in a 

 comatose state to the ammonia bottle, died I 

 trust an easy and painless death. There is 

 a curious superstition in the New^ Forest 

 that the Death's Head moth w-as never seen 

 in England till after the execution of Charles 

 i. 



There are few methods of collecting more 

 profitable to the Lepidopterist than the 

 acquisition of pupae. The trouble necessarily 

 attendant upon the rearing and feeding of 

 the larvse is dispeused with. Once safely- 

 placed in a position of security, they require 

 no more attention, and the imagines are 

 procured in a condition of prime beauty. 

 Pupae are to be sought for in divers situations, 

 autumn being the best season in which to 

 look for them. Under moss, on the trunks 

 of trees, on lichen-covered palings, under 

 walls, some will be sure to reward the careful 

 investigator. But perhaps no way of ob- 

 taining them is attended with so much suc- 

 cess as by digging at the roots of trees. 

 Amongst these the oak and elm are found 

 the best ; the last in point of numbers, the 

 oak in yielding the best and rarest species. 

 During last autumn my brother, some friends 

 and myself in this way secured several 

 hundreds of pupte. 



I must now bring these few notes to a 

 conclusion, hoping that they may not have 

 been without some interest, even to those 

 who care but little for the study of insect 

 life ; for the contemplation of the sombre 

 pupa with its sleep of apparent death, 

 presently to give birth to a creature radiant 



i with beauty, cannot but give rise to high and 

 ! holy thoughts. 



Mr. Bignell has very kindly called atten- 

 i tion to a passage in my paper on this subject, 

 liable to be misunderstood. It is this :— 

 ! "Pupse, as do larvae, breathe by means of 

 | spiracles, which are situated on either side, 

 I and in every segment but the first and thir- 

 teenth." It would have been better had I 

 I written— Pup?e, as do larvae, breathe by 

 i means of spiracles, which are situated on 

 | either side. In pupse there are spiracles 

 ; between the pro-thorax and meso-thorax, and 

 on all the segments of the abdomen but the 

 first and last. 



Mr. Robson directs my attention to the 

 fact that Satyrus scmele has a subterranean 

 pupa. "There is no rule," it seems, "with? 

 | out an exception." Newman also states that 

 ; a larva of Theclaqnerms, which he had, retired 

 i just below the surface of the earth, and then 

 ! turned. It is to be remarked that in both 

 cases, recorded in his "British Butterflies/ 1 

 ; of Semele and Qiiercus, these observations were 

 j made from insects reared in captivity. It will 

 i be very interesting to me, and doubtless 

 many others, to know whether the same 

 thing obtains in a state of nature, and also if 

 these are the only two instances of the larvje 

 of butterflies going beneath the soil in order 

 to pupate. 



THE FOUR SEASONS; 



A Story from the Book of Nature ; by 

 Lucy Fern. 



Chap XIII. 



CONCLUSION. 



Now it is getting towards the end of 

 January. Long storms and howling winds 

 have been frequent of late, and while many a 

 family have sat comfortably by their own 

 fireside, the pelting sleet has been driven in 

 gusts against the window panes. Alas ! 



