THE SUBSTITUTE. 
137 
the larva; of many of the Rhopa- 
locera ! Some, indeed, are too 
easily found, as the genus Pieris, 
with the exception of the gem 
DapUdice. The larva of Go- 
neptei-yx Rhamni is not often 
delected by the casual observer. 
How beautiful it looks, resting 
motionless, a semi-pellucid eme- 
rald, pendant from a leaf of the 
delicate Rhamnus Frangula ! and 
then to see the quaint crysalis ! 
one wonders why the smooth larva 
has so distorted itself, until the 
appearance of the angle-winged 
imago solves the mystery. — S. C. 
Tre ss Beale, Ivy Court, Ten- 
ter den. 
Cynthia Cardui. — What is the 
cause of the uncertain appearance 
of Cynthia Cardui ? I shall never 
forget the day when I saw quite 
a cloud of them, flying about 
blooming thistles which grew in a 
gorse plantation. That was a long 
time ago, when I used s^pits instead 
of pins, as my specimens, preserved 
to this day, sadly testify. 1 have 
not seen a living Cardui since. 
—Id. 
Vanessa polychloros. — Of the 
larvte of Vanessa polychloros I can 
generally make sure. W e have 
only one small elm in our garden 
(though a weed in some localities, 
the tree is a rarity with us), and 
that elm is sure to produce a good 
crop of polychloros larvee in June, 
much to the chagrin of our gar- 
dener: they rather astonish him, 
for perhaps the luxuriance of the 
tree’s foliage is apparently un- 
injured on the one evening, and 
on the next the boughs are almost 
stripped of leaves, and alive with 
spiny caterpillars. When they 
commence Ceding, they do so in 
right earnest, for unless tlieir ra- 
vages are speedily stopped not a 
leaf will be left on the tree. — Id. 
Melitma Alhalia. — I cannot find 
the larvjB of Melitcea Alhalia ; after 
carefully searching the food-plants 
in the locality most frequented by 
the imago, last summer, I was 
totally unsuccessful. If in this 
neighbourhood next May, I pur- 
pose “ trying again.” “ Nil des- 
perandum” should be the motto 
of every entomologist. — Id. 
Cerambyx Heros. — In reply to 
Mr. W. Chaney (p. 76), I beg to 
inform him I captured one of'these 
beetles in H.M. Dockyard, Dept- 
ford, on a log of Italian oak, five 
years ago, and have it now in my 
possession. — W. H. Brett, Dept- 
ford; December 22, 1856. 
On Duplicates and Desiderata. 
— Although I do not by any means 
wish to enter into a paper war with 
a person who so far forgets him- 
self, in bis first letter, as to intimate 
that an unknown correspondent 
was “ no gentleman,” yet I think 
that the terms he makes use of 
deserve a comment or two. It is 
a generally accepted theory that 
the conduct of the many give the 
tone to public opinion, and from 
the various pages of the ‘ Intelli- 
gencer’ and the ‘Substitute’ we 
may glean so many instances of 
the absence of that desire to oblige 
their fellow-labourers which should 
characterize all the knights of the 
net, that I imagine I can with 
justice re-echo your correspon- 
dent’s words, and exclaim that it 
is his expressions that are “un- 
justifiable and unwarrantable.” 
Again, he appears to think it 
wrong to request those who give 
notice of duplicates to state what 
return they expect (for that was 
the object of my letter, p. 78), and 
N 3 
