94 
THE SUBSTITUTE. 
I will DOW add an anecdote of a 
persevering and determined cater- 
pillar, whose steadiness of purpose 
only ended with its life. On the 
trunk of a chestnut tree in Dulwich 
I took a caterpillar of what I sup- 
posed was Apalela Aceris, and 
placed it in rny breeding-box : on 
raising the lid, a day or two after, 
it was spinning its web in the 
chink between the lid and the box ; 
I broke the web, and the larva 
dropped to the bottom ; the next 
day, as if to spite me, it was 
weaving again in the chink, and, 
as a matter of course, in lifting the 
lid I again broke the web, and 
down it fell: notwithstanding 
these two inlerru|)lions, the day 
following it was in the chink again, 
pertinaciously pursuing its avoca- 
tion ; the like result occurred from 
the same cause, this time with a 
fatiil issue, lor on looking into my 
box on the day succeeding I found 
it dead w'here it fell, and denuded 
of hair ; this denudation elucidated 
a subject on wdiich my thoughts 
had previously meditated, and de- 
monstrated that caterpillars are 
endowed with reason and not 
merely instinct. When it first fell 
from its building, by thepropsbeing 
removed, I observed that it had 
less hair on than when captured ; 
on the second fall it was per- 
ceptible that the hair had fur- 
ther diminished, and at last, when 
found dead, it was bare. This 
clearly shows that as it was 
building its home it was gradually 
undergoing a process tow'ards 
transformation, had it not been 
disturbed in its operation of home 
erection : when the bed was made 
it would h:ivc been a vital naked 
caterpillar ready for sleep. I 
have before informed you of a 
shallow, unreflecting caterpillar, 
Lasiocampa, wayward and wilful 
withall, but by a little nursing and 
coaxing it was induced to believe 
it was spring when only October, 
and was thus tricked out of some 
months of its time. We have an 
example in the Cossus of an easy, 
free-going temperament, adapting 
itself to circumstances, and as 
homely and comfortable in his tin 
case and sawdust as in the heart 
of his favourite oak. — IIicharD 
Oaktmel, 13, Williams Grove, 
High Park, Walworth ; Novem- 
ber 24, 1856. 
Cornish Insects. — I should be 
obliged if you would inform my 
numerous correspondents in the 
next ‘Substitute,’ that I have no 
duplicates of the insects taken in 
Cornwall. — Rev. E. Horton, 
Wick, Worcester ; Dec, 2, 1856. 
EXTRACTS. 
Kirby and Spence’s ‘ Intro- 
duction TO Entomology.’ 
“ If anything more than a fleet- 
ing renown could be acquired by 
a well- written book on a scientific 
subject, Kirby and Spence might 
gain, by their ‘ Introduction to 
Entomology,’ that sort of immor- 
tality which men of letters desire. 
It is written in a clear expressive 
style, with a precision which au- 
thors less practically acquainted 
with the subject could not attain, 
and gives the result of long expe- 
rience, continued research, and 
extensive reading, upon many in- 
teresting subjects connected with 
the lives of insects. It takes a 
minute as well as a general 
view of the circumstances under 
which they are produced, and 
the conditions under which they 
