Page:Scientific Memoirs, Vol. 1 (1837).djvu/224

 M. Duponchel that after the progress which had been made by the united efforts of French and German naturalists in this branch of entomology, we could not recognise a butterfly which had been twice drawn and described by skilful naturalists, and which must be common, since its caterpillar was so. To this M. Duponchel replied that he thought I was mistaken in supposing myself certain of having distinguished the caterpillar described by Bosc, because the description given of it by this naturalist in his memoir is so far from precise that it may be applied to all the caterpillars of this genus which have green bodies and black heads, but which differ in other characters of which he does not speak, such, for example, as the colour of the verrucose points with which all the caterpillars of this group are decorated. As to the butterfly, the description and figure by Bosc, the description by Fabricius, and Coquebert's figure, drawn from the individual described by Fabricius in Bosc's collection, may equally be applied to the four following species of Phalænæ: the Cerasana and Riberana of Treitschke, and the Corylana and Fascima of Fabricius. The last approaches more nearly than the others to Bosc's description; but this species is also described by Fabricius, and Bosc has not recognised it as his own. Still more, after saying that Réaumur had not anywhere mentioned the caterpillar which was the subject of his memoir, he adds: "It appears to be equally rare in other climates, for neither Linnæus, Fabricius, nor Scopoli has described the Phalænæ which it produces."

From these researches and explanations it appears that if the Pyralis Danticana, Pyralis Vitana of Fabricius, has not been confounded by him and Bosc with the Fasciana; that if it be not the same species as the latter, it must be considered as a species still unknown, and which cannot be well known until we have bred all the caterpillars found upon the vine which resemble the one described by Bosc. To deduce this deficiency in science is almost to acquire the certainty of its being speedily supplied. Although the silence of the Italian naturalists relative to this caterpillar be not a decisive reason for thinking that it is not found in Italy, and did not receive from the ancients the name of Involvulus, yet this is more especially true with regard to another caterpillar to which the names Convolvulus and Involvulus appear more peculiarly applicable. More attentive observations have been made upon this caterpillar than upon that described by Bosc, and its butterfly is well known as the Procris ampelophaga, or Procris of the vine so much dreaded by all the cultivators of Tuscany. This caterpillar sometimes injures considerably the buds and young shoots of the vine. In Piedmont it sometimes devours half the vine-plots. It is five or six lines in length, and two lines or two and half in width; its colour is a brown gray, and the hair is disposed in stars in four longitudinal rows in semi-globular relief towards the anterior part. The inferior surface