THE ENTOMOLOGIST’S WEEKLY INTELLIGENCER. 
37 
A Visit to Chateaudun. — Yesterday I 
returned from a visit to M. Guenee at 
his country residence, near Chateaudun. 
I saw some of the proof sheets of the 
volumes of the Geometridce, and I under- 
stand their publication will take place in 
the month of September next. The 
situation of M. Guenee’s house, sur- 
rounded by little woods, in which grow a 
great variety of plants, is eminently 
favourable to the pursuit of Entomology ; 
and, had the trees been further advanced 
so as to have been in full leaf, the 
country would have looked very pretty. 
H. T. Stainton, Paris ; April 23, 1857. ' 
A Junior Entomological Society . — 
Having just seen C. G.’s communication 
respecting a Junior Entomological So- 
ciety, I write to say that if such a Society 
should be formed I should be very happy 
to join it. It is a plan which I have 
tried to carry into effect with several of 
my friends, but gave it up for want of 
members. I know several junior ento- 
mologists who would be delighted to 
join. I should be very glad if C. G. 
would favour us with his address in the 
‘Intelligencer.’ — Baoen Henry Pow- 
ell, t>, Stanhope Street , Hyde Park 
Gardens; April 22, 1857. 
NOTICES OF BOOKS. 
On a True Parthenogenesis in Moths and 
Bees : a Contribution to the History of 
Reproduction in Animals. By Pro- 
fessor Von Siebold. Translated by 
W. S. Dallas, F.L.S. 8vo, cloth, 5s. 
Loudon : John Van Voorst, Paternos- 
ter Row. 
(Second Notice). 
We resume our extracts from this 
interesting work. 
“The two species of case-bearers just 
mentioned ( Solenobia lichenella and tri- 
quetrella ) are not, however, the only ex- 
amples of the true Parthenogenesis ; an 
equally striking example of the virgin 
reproduction of a female insect is pre- 
sented by Psyche Helix. Of this ex- 
tremely remarkable moth we are at 
present only certainly acquainted with 
the female. In the caterpillar state it 
lives in a case, which in its form resem- 
bles a sinislral snail-shell, to which simi- 
larity the specific name given by me to 
this Psyche also refers. 
“ The case of Psyche Helix is nearly 
as large as a small pea ; it exhibits three 
and a half whorls, and consists of a firm 
whitish tissue, which is thickly and firmly 
coated externally with small particles of 
earth. The colour of the case is usually 
earthy grey, but in certain districts 
blackish or reddish brown cases occur; 
this is probably in connexion with the 
colour of the soil from which these case- 
bearers partly derive the material for 
their cases. Here and there also, indi- 
vidual cases occur with separate whorls. 
The uppermost and narrowest half-turn 
is always very indistinct, and generally 
appears collapsed. At the place where 
the second whorl commences there is 
always a lateral opening, the margins of 
which usually lie down and conceal the 
entrance to the cavity of the whorl. 
When the caterpillar has evacuated its 
faces, it pushes them out of this aperture, 
when the edges of the latter rise a little. 
This lateral opening of the case is really 
due to an interruption, which the walls 
of the case exhibit at this point in almost 
the whole of their transverse diameter. 
The body of the caterpillar is indeed also 
spirally curled, but in its form and length 
it only corresponds with the lowermost 
whorl of the case. In this way it would 
be impossible for the caterpillar to push 
its body up into the uppermost narrow 
whorl for the evacuation of its faces. 
The female of Psyche Helix, like all the 
females of Psyche, after completing the 
business of oviposition, quits its case, 
which is firmly spun down by its anterior 
aperture, aud for this purpose it makes 
