Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1872-09-20
E.v'STE.vCT Nv E.V'sECTs. -

DR.. lie Baron, the accomplished State
Entomologist of Illinois, has recently pub
lished report upon the noxious insects of
the State, which contains striki z descrip-
ton of what is called "instinct" in insects.
lie says:
/ have mentioned the wonderful instinct
of the CoccuS of the Pine, which prompts
the female insects 10 improve the short pc
riod of their active existence, to migrate
outwards upon the terminal foliage, where
they and the generation succeeding them
will find themselves i'm the mi'lst OF the
greenest and freshest forage, while the
males which are to acquire wings, and the
consequent power of locomotion. fix them
selves indiilorenty upon the first vacant
space that offers, thus indicating kind of
prophetic vision utterly beyond any reach
of Intelligence which we can reasonably at
tribute TO beings so low in the scale ofcrea-
ton. The student of entomology is contn-
ually meeting with instances of this kind,
| which arrest his attention and excite his
wonder, and which battle his utmost nge-
nuity to explain.
| fer briefly TO few of these in stances, not
merely as marvellous stories, intended to
excite the curiosity of children, but as re-
markable facts in nature. iraught, it may
be, with a profound significance.
1t is the common instinct of insects
which are wood borers in their larva state,
| but which have no such power In their sub
| sequent stages TO gnaw their way TO the
surface of the tree before they stop feeding
50 that they can emerge without obstruc
| tion after they shall have completed their
| transformations. The Plum-gouger (An-
Mr0nom us prunicidd), whose history was
so carefully traced by my predecessor, Mr..
Walsh, and which in its larval period oc-
cupies not the flesh but the kernal OF the
| plum, when it has completed its growth
and is ready to transform in the kernal,
takes the precaution TO gnaw round hole
in the shell, through which II may subse-
quently emerge. If it did not do SO ~
would be fatally imprisoned, in IFS future
beetle state, within the mature and harden
ed shell, an event which the Gouger care
fully guards against, though the horticul
turist might regard it as consummaiion
devoutly to DO wished
The Disippus-butterny (Nymphdlis d.
Sippus, Gdt.) an interesting account of
which is given by Mr.. Riley, in the first
volume of the american Entomologst,"
lives in its caterpillar state, on different
kinds of willow. In this state ii passes the
winter, inclosed in a willow leaf, rolled in
to a cylindrical case. But as the leaf would
fall like the rest, when touched by frost, or
be blown away by the wind, the insect fas-
tens its footstalk with silken threads to the
branch on which II grows, and thus secure
ly rides through the frosts and storms
of winter.
The Larvae of beau;i'u l East Indian but
teriy, the 1HecIa IsocrateS, live in COM
panies Of half dozen or more, in the fruit
of the pomegranatc, and there also pass
the pupa stale. But before changing 10
chrysalids, each larva cuts round hole in
the rind, through which the future butter
fly, which itself has no teeth, but only a
slender flexible proboscis, may be able 10
escape, and as the worm eaten fruit would
be likely to fall prematurely to the ground,
the Larvae crawl out aud make the stem fast
and 90 through their transformations
Those moths whose Larvae or caterpilars
are leaf eaters, always lay their eggs upon
that kind of plant or tree upon which it is
the nature of their future progeny to sub
sst, though they have no other relation to
the tree, and though the eggs do not usual
ly hatch till after the death of the parent
and sometimes not till the following year.
Many kinds of wasps exhibit wonder
full provisional instinct. The female wasp
burrows into the ground or sometimes into
rotten wood, constructs cell at the bot
tom of the cavity, and there deposits her
eggs. She then carries in insects which
may serve as food for her future progeny.
Some species take the additional precau-
ton TO disable but not kill the insects thus
provided, 81 that the young may find
themselves provided with fresh provisions.
Having completed her task she closes the
hole, and never again revisits it, but short
ly afler perlshes.
Now are we TO understand that these in
sects are really endowed with prophetic
vision ? Do they know what will be their
own condition the next month or the next
year. or what will be the future necessities
Of their offsp Ing which perhaps as yet
are unborn We are hardly prepared 10 at
tribute to them such superhuman intelli-
gencc. If they do not know, then what is
II that prompts them 10 take such wise and
far-reaching- precautions Who will an
swerH l ask the question, but shall hear
no response, for there is no earthly intelli-
gence which can solve the mystery
can conceive of the formation of plan
ct, by the condensation OF nebulous mat
ter, in obedience to the law of gravitation.
can form some idea, however unsatisfac-
tory of the development of organic bodies
by the operation of physical laws respon-
siye to the impressions of surrounding cir
cumstances But that an insect which was
born yesterday, and which will die to- NOR
row, can, without the invocation of n wis.,
dom superior TO her own, adopt a syste,nat-
ic course OF conduct having for its object
the safety and welfare Of her future proge-
ny, which will not spring into active ex-
istence till long amer she herself shall have
perished,--this, II passes the bounds or nv
Imagination 10 conceive.
IL Is said that Galen was converted from
atheism by the contemplation of the hu-
Il