rive confirmation and augmented interest from
some apparently parallel conditions observed of other animals, widely
removed in the organic scale from the Reptilia, and that on both sides.
Some glimpses of an indefinitely protracted torpidity in Wasps are given
to us in a communication from an eminent entomologist, Mr G. Wailes of
Newcastle, to the Entomological Society of London, and published in
their "Proceedings" of March 5, 1860. These Rip Van Winkles of the
insect race choose, it seems, the tops of loftiest mountains for going
to their long sleep. Who knows what might be found if a clever
insect-hunter were to go stone-turning on the peaks of Ararat? Read the
following, young enterprising entomologists! and set out.

"It is very evident that we have a great deal yet to learn about the
Social Wasps, and therefore the following remarks as to _Vespa vulgaris_
may be interesting. Ever since 1829 I have, at intervals, searched the
summit of Skiddaw (3022 feet) for specimens of _Leistus montanus_, and
on every occasion have taken out from underneath the loose fragments of
the slate perfectly torpid females of this Wasp, with the wings, legs,
antennae, &c., precisely in the state in which we find them during winter
in the lower lands. Not unfrequently I have met with dead specimens
which seemed to have perished in the same dormant state, and been there
for a year or two at least. Mr Smith, in his catalogue of the British
Vespadae, under this species, states that Mr Wollaston found the female
abundant under stones on the extreme summit of Gribon Oernant, near
Llangollen, in September 1854, adding, 'probably hybernating for the
winter,' but had evidently forgotten my writing to him on the subject.
My visits to the mountain have extended from the latter end of June to
the latter end of August, and therefore it necessarily follows that
either these specimens of the female Wasp were those of the previous
year, or that this sex appears much earlier in the season than has
hitherto been supposed. But in either case the question arises, why are
they torpid during these the hottest months of the year? It is quite
true that the temperature of the altitude is below that of the plains,
especially during the night, and I have myself been enveloped in falling
sleet and snow more than once, both in June and August, though, as a
rule, the Cumberland mountains seldom have a thick covering of snow, and
often only a few inches once or twice i