THE SUBSTITUTE. 
129 
very ridiculous, but of course you 
cannot convince ibem of it, — as 
applied to them argument is use- 
less, and they growl and grumble 
away at the rate of something like 
forty-donkey pow'er ! Never mind, 
it appears to please them, and it 
does me no harm. I could explain 
much more relative to this subject, 
but refrain : I am aware of certain 
funny movements, and I also know 
who “ pulls the strings.” Since I 
first published the statement that 
foreign insects were here, I have 
been favoured with very many kind 
letters on the subjectfroin strangers 
as well as from old friends; some 
of the letters, from want of time, 
have not been answered ; I there- 
fore take this opportunity of thank- 
ing all those who have so kindly 
assisted me with information, and 
I do strongly hope that ere long 
some of them will raise their 
courage sufficiently high to enable 
them to come forward and make a 
proper use of their information by 
publicly exposing the nefarious 
transactions of some of these 
scamps: depend upon it you will 
have the honest portion of the 
public with you, and you need not 
fear the rest,'even though a George 
Smith be employed to throw dirt 
at you! (The above allusions to 
inquiries and extensive frauds re- 
late to other places as well as 
Brighton.) Whatever may be the 
amount of abuse levelled at me, in 
all probability I shall take no fur- 
ther notice of it, so the grumblers 
and others may indulge themselves 
in as much as the editor of the 
‘ Substitute’ thinks proper to print. 
— H. Cooke, 8, Pelham Terrace, 
Brighton; December 13, 1859. 
[We hope the parties upon 
whom Messrs. Cooke and Winter 
have relied for their information 
that foreign specimens of P. em- 
pi/rea, &c., were to be sold as 
British ones, will come forward, 
and prove the case. If they do 
not, the inference will be against 
them. The game is in their hands, 
if they will only make the move, 
— that is, name the parties.] 
Plusia Gamma out in December. 
— I have to-day bred Plusia 
Gamma : this is the fourth I have 
had out of chrysalis this week. 
The larva) were taken from a bed 
of mint during September and 
October, and have ever since been 
kept in a box in the open air on 
the north side of a wall, where not 
a ray of sunshine can reach them. 
Their late appearance I's very 
curious. — H. Cooke, 6, Pelham 
Terrace, Brighton ; December 13, 
1856. 
A Plea for Insects. — I am 
haunted by a feeling, which is 
perhaps no more than a nervous 
hallucination, that many people 
take in the ‘ Fireside Companion,’ 
and devour it with fiendish eyes, 
whose principal object it is to get 
up crafty plans of more whole.sale 
capture and destruction for the 
ensuing year. Inspired by that pity 
for the oppressed which svarins the 
heart of every true Briton, I have 
come forward, duly commissioned, 
I assure you, by the whole insect 
race (the Arachnidce of course ex- 
cepted), but especially on behalf of 
those most injured fair ones, the 
Lepidoptera, whose true knight I 
announce myself in the face of all 
gainsayers. It is not generally 
known, at least not by these fierce 
fanatics of our fraternity, that 
moths and butterflies are not 
Amalekites, nor savages, but crea- 
tures as cultivated in their ideas. 
