the ENTOMOLOGIST’S WEEKLY INTELLIGENCER. 
63 
It is all-important to note what two 
species we sometimes meet with in 
copuld; thus, in the Dragonflies, I have 
met with the following: — 
L. pectoralis, $ , and L. caudalis, $ . 
L. vulgata, $ , and L. meridionalis, $ . 
Lestes sponsa, $, and Agrion najas, . 
A. pulchellum, $ , and A. puella, $ . 
Whether these produced a hybrid progeny 
I cannot say. 
The main point of my idea is that 
these hybrid insects will always appear 
in the same constant form and colouring, 
but without the power of continuing their 
race, and such hybrids must occasionally 
stand a chance of being described as 
species. 
I should be interested to hear that this 
subject has already engaged the attention 
of English entomologists. 
Dr. Hagen. 
Konigsberg, Sept. 23. 
[Mr. Weir has recorded the following 
interesting observation in the last number 
of the ‘ Zoologist — 
“ In a field at Keymer I observed 
Anthrocera Trifolii and A. Filipendulce 
flying together: I discovered several 
males of Trifolii in copula with females 
of Filipendulce. It occurred to me that 
probably this irregularity had not then 
taken place for the first time, and I 
therefore searched the spot very carefully 
for hybrids, of which I soon took several, 
though not in good condition, as most of 
the specimens were more nearly allied to 
Trifolii than to Filipendulce, and had 
therefore, as it was then late in June, 
been some time on the wing. In some 
cases the specimens showed the narrow 
border of the under wing of Filipendulce, 
but with only five spots ; others strongly 
resembled Trifolii, but with the six spots 
of Filipendulce.” 
The announcement of bred hybrid 
specimens of Smerintlius ocellatus and 
S. Populi has already appeared in the 
‘ Intelligencer,’ vol. ii. pp. 188 and 197.] 
NOTICES OF BOOKS. 
The Insect Hunters; or, Entomology 
in Verse. London: Edward New- 
man, 9, Devonshire Street, Bishops- 
gate. 1857. Is. 6d. bound in cloth, 
pp. 86. 
The readers of the ‘Substitute’ will 
remember the descriptions in verse of 
some of the orders of insects which ap- 
peared in that publication. These papers 
have been collected together, and others, 
descriptive of the orders not included in 
that series, have been added, the whole 
forming the volume before us. 
The merits of the published papers, 
entomologically considered, were gene- 
rally acknowledged when they appeared, 
but as many of our readers may not have 
seen them, it will not be superfluous to 
call attention to their peculiar character. 
The four stages of insect-life, the egg, 
the larva, the pupa and imago, are ex- 
plained, then comes a capital chapter on 
Metamorphosis, and, in regular order, the 
families in all the orders have their pro- 
minent characteristics concisely yet em- 
phatically set forth. The information 
embodied is just of the sort that the 
rising race of collectors are much in 
need of, for we fear that too many of 
them think more of getting specimens 
and forming a collection than of studying 
the structure and economy of insects, 
and so are in danger of becoming mere 
fanciers, and not entomologists at all. 
The study of this little book will do 
much to induce broad and general views 
of insect-life, and to inculcate a desire 
to be something more than moth or beetle 
catchers. 
For the young also, who have not had 
their attention drawn to Entomology, we 
think this an admirable book, one that a 
parent might give to his child without 
any fear that the contents were not 
strictly true. The verse is formed after 
