THE YOUNG 



NATUKALTST. ' 95 



occasions unearthed a compact family of 

 cocoons of some small species of ichneumon. 

 Seeing that the larva of Petasitis feeds con- 

 cealed in the stem and root of its food-plant, 

 at what period of its existence does the 

 female ichneumon deposit her eggs, and 

 how ?— J. W. Baldwin, 38, Dunscar Road, 

 near Bolton. 



REPLIES. 



I. 



Lepidoptera in Winter. — The query, 

 do Lepidoptera always pass the winter in 

 the same stage, is a most important one, if I 

 am right in interpreting to mean — Do Lepi- 

 doptera ever depart from the usual rule that 

 » the same species always passes the winter 

 ^in the same state. This law is most 

 • plainly put forth in the introductory re- 

 marks to " Newman's British Butterflies." 



■ " Now it is a most interesting fact, and one 

 that cannot be too strongly impressed on 

 the memory, that all the individuals com- 

 posing one kind, or more properly one 

 " species" of butterfly, always hybernate in 



\ the same state ; each adheres strictly to the 

 practice of its species, that is to say, if one 

 peacock butterfly passes the winter season 

 ||in the butterfly state, so will its children 

 \ pass the nsxt winter in the same state, and 

 so on for countless generations." But not- 

 withstanding this general rule there would 

 appear to be occasional departures from it. 

 Colias edusa passes the winter as an imago, 

 yet has been known in confinement to re- 

 main over that season in the chrysalis state. 

 The three Common Whites hybernate in 

 chrysalis, yet records of their appearance 

 in November and December as larvae have 

 appeared in this magazine. V. cardui, like 



■ others of the genus, hybernates as an imago, 

 : yet the writer has had living larvae in 

 . December that might have lived out of 

 ! doors, but in the warmer atmosphere of the 



house never became torpid, and died from 

 want of food. These exceptional instances 



do not, however, affect the general rule, and 

 nature soon reverts to her normal course. 

 -J.O. 



II. 



Flavour of the Morel. — I think B.W. 

 cannot be correct in supposing that the 

 morel only acquires its peculiar flavour 

 after being dried. M. C. Cooke, in his 

 British Fungi, describes it as "far more 

 delicious when fresh." — R.P.D. 



15- 



Aerial Spiders. — I presume that the 

 aerial spiders about which " H.A.A." en- 

 quires (p. 71) are those properly called 

 "gossamer spiders," the producers of the 

 myriads of floating lines so conspicuous on 

 fine days in spring and autumn. These 

 little spiders are mostly the young of many 

 species of several families, chiefly Theridiidcdj 

 Thonusidce, and Lycosidce. Some, however, 

 of the Tlieridiidce perform aerial excursions 

 in the adult state also. In spring and 

 autumn, when immature spiders abound 

 most, they appear to be specially animated 

 with a restless, roving disposition. They 

 may be seen on blades of grass, twigs of 

 bushes, railings, palings, tops of walls, or 

 other "vantage" ground, particularly on 

 fine, mild, and tolerably still mornings, 

 elevating themselves on tip-toe and emitting 

 silken lines from their spinners. These 

 lines are further drawn out by air-currents, 

 and then with a slight jerk the little travel- 

 ler floats quickly away, buoyed up by the 

 trailing lines. In some states of the atmos- 

 phere, or perhaps by the action of the 

 spiders themselves, the lines are agglomera- 

 ted together and form delicate snow-white 

 flakes, which have been, on some occasions, 

 seen floating and falling so thickly as to be 

 compared to a slight snow-shower ; but, for 

 the most part, the lines trail away separately 

 and adhere to every prominent object 

 against which they impinge. According to 

 the greater or less density of the air the 

 gossamer lines float higher or lower, and 



