oo RETURN TO LIBRARY OF MARINE BIOLOGICAL LABORATORY WOODS HOLE, MASS. LOANED BY AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY iP on 9 / Ax THE CANADIAN J) ¥, eG VOLUME VII. Boe Edited bp Ga. Saunders, LONDON, ONT. ASSISTED BY Rev. C, j. S. BETHUNE, M.A., Port Hope, Ont.; J. M. DENTON, London, Ont.; and E. B. REED, Barrister-at-Law, London, Ont, LONDON : PRINTED BY THE FREE PRESS STEAM PRINTING COMPANY, RICHMOND ST 1875 LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS. ere oe Wa Ved meee oi) SiG! Qa. New See: Pe ErUNE REV, CS hoe lee ks U.S. PORD- heEee Oe HPOWLES, Git. . pene ms . mies Wi MONE Re oe BUNKER, ROBERT. Ayers Wee. « a eR WROCHES Meet ain meee eB CET), Fon Ae le eetuac, 2h oe 8. MONTRRARS Pa SPUR Vo Nine ee tek. eR nS) SCORING ree ee PEE WE Mics crac ae sate fils. Valea «ty. MONTREAR SE er eet Ns ace rie 1k Br oth. DopceE Co., NEBRASKA. POV AIS AW. ER aa Peas aid. ). MGOGARBURGHY Weve Teele Re te! Aas. & anne. ORAS a. s. A RE WOODS aaa Pee Fema ya tie) Abe. 6 a ROO NG Beg Ree ee Pid tig sad aa cals. DRG. Sc PR DUPEALO, Ble HARVEY, DR. ‘LEON PONS eee ei. . esis.’ se ONRAEO? Bee W JACK, JOHN Pee ee. AOS Pe ee HiLising, Pro. RECONTE DR. JOWIN, barges 40Gb 2 PRDADELPHE, PA erp n nN Ei iA cS seeds ieee pale £3i ALBAN NAR RiP) TREODOR Bliss eis oy eas. | GON BW YORK. PSO. PIM RY HEB s 9 cist ft Ba) > oe A eee eC 1, ASR: Ving she ei tibes 3. Apt. tet BORT BUFORD See NEG RISO. bead ao tien. . Je. 458), SCAMBRIDGED Miase: MOAN (SRO wot klowised uw. a Srl CatraaRiness Oat Ee IN Ye ANCIENT Ge Rote seleand . maid eee CAMBRIDGE BEARS ee CPR Gy We aes cio onset, 2 cae a MONTREAL Pr re ee hone RILEYeCO.V.. Beeaigrieis ct Pacis ale «easly eh Cos Ea LC ES Per: ROGERS, R. v. ‘ isketin ty. the a te ICS PON., Oak: SAUNDERS, W. (he. Editor). pee nae Ome oy oh ERY LonpDoN, ONT. Che Canadtan Entomologist. VOL. VII. LONDON, ONT., JANUARY, 1875. No. 1 OUR. SEVENTH VOLUME. With the present issue we enter'upon the seventh year of our existence. On looking back over our past career, we see abundant reason for thank- fulness and encouragement; from small beginnings we have grown to a respectable sized periodical, while in mechanical execution, typography, paper, &c., we give precedence to none. ‘The completion of our past volume and the advent of the present number have been delayed by untoward circumstances beyond the time intended, but we are making a fresh start now, and hope by persevering effort to catch up lost time and issue regularly hereafter. To meet the wishes of several of our friends who desired to have certain material printed before the close of the sixth volume, we published last month a double number, consisting of forty pages with index added, so that our readers have been dealt with more liberally than we had promised, having received a volume of 260 instead of 240 pages. Many kind friends have helped us in the past with their contributions, and we gratefully observe that the number of helpers is increasing, as is shown by the recently issued list of contributors to the sixth volume ; we trust that none of these will weary in well-doing, but continue their needed assistance and enlist their friends as far as possible in the same service. Original observations on the habits and life history of insects are especially desired, to make our journal still more useful and intéresting. With the kind aid of our coadjutors, we shall endeavor to continue the papers on our common insects, which will, as heretofore, be accompanied by suitable illustrations, and shall, as far as possible, provide in each issue other material which will interest the general reader. We would also take this opportunity of reminding our subscribers that subscriptions for the new volume are now due, and will be thankfully received by the Secretary, Mr. J. H. McMechan, London, Ont. It is with pleasure, also, that we inform our many correspondents that by the recent postal arrangements entered into by the United States and Canadian authorities, all letters mailed after the first of February will require a three ce? stamp only to carry them from any part of the States to any part of Canada and vice versa, instead of six cents, as heretofore ; post cards also will pass from one country to the other without the additional stamp. 2 THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. CATOCALA NEBRASK, Dopce. BY G. M. DODGE, GLENCOE, DODGE CO., NEBRASKA. Expanse, 2.70 inches. Primaries scalloped, apparently brown, being densely sprinkled with black scales on a reddish gray ground. Reniform tinged with red, clouded anteriorly with black, and having a black central spot. Sub-reniform indistinct. Terminal line nearly obsolete, the grayish band which precedes it showing plainest on the costa. All the transverse lines are black, and a curved row of seven black dots appears on the interspaces along the outer margin. Fringe dark, tipped with white. Secondaries red, of about the same shade as appears in C. garta. Median band not much curved, and of nearly the same width as appears in C. unijuga, excavated anteriorly at the extremity of the discal cell, slightly constricted just after crossing the first median venule, and ends abruptly at the submedian vein; a few scattered scales appear beyond. Marginal band of medium width ; even on inner edge, excavated opposite the termination of the median band, and ends about half way between the submedian and internal veins. Apex white, tinged with red. Fringe white, spotted with black, which color predominates at the anal angle. Thorax same color as primaries. Abdomen clear brown, three of the segments tipped with white. Beneath, the general appearance much as in allied species. Median band of secondaries ends at sub- median vein. Taken at Glencoe, Dodge County, Nebraska, in August, 1874. 9 Mr. Grote informs me that this species seems to be related to Catocala Californica. \ \ NOTE ON CATOCALA NEBRASK, BY A. R. GROTE, BUFFALO, N. Y. Mr. Dodge has sent me a specimen of this species, recently discovered by himself. It is closely allied to the European C. nuffa. It differs by the greater obliquity of the t. p. line and the shallower submedian sinus. The fore wings are otherwise quite similar in color and design, while the lines are more deeply black marked in Mebraske. ‘The hind wings differ by the greater narrowness of the terminal band, and notably by the nar- rower, more rounded and non-angulated median fascia. The species seem to be related somewhat as C. clocata of Europe and C. Walshii of THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST, 3 North America. Perhaps it is this species (C. Webraske) that has led Mr. Strecker (who has shown himself on other occasions to be inexact) to record “ C. upfta” as being found in North America. — I will remark here that Mr. Strecker’s statement that the Califorman species of Memo- phila are identical with the European Auwssia, is contradicted by their description as distinct by Dr. Boisduval, who should be well acquainted with the variations of the European form. ‘The statement that Zupsychoma geometrica is the exact equivalent of Mr. Walker's 4. fetrosa, made by Mr. Strecker, is erroneous, and is probably a _ careless rendering of Dr. Packard’s previous statement that the two were probably forms of the same species. In geometrica the hind wings are entirely d/ack; in petrosa (the type of which I saw in the British Museum) the hind wings. are white or yellowish, with black markings. In my opinion it will eventuate that we have several species of /Vemopfila in our Western regions, none of them identical with A/anfaginis, and probably some of them (i. e..Eupsychoma geometrica) to be distinguished structurally, and therefore generically from caespefzs and cichorit and plantaginis. CAPTURES OF NOCTUIDA AT ST: CATHARINES, “ON® BY GEO. NORMAN, ST. CATHARINES, ONT. In the spring of this year I commenced collecting the Mectue of this. part of Canada, and in the hope that a list of my captures, with the dates of appearance, may be of interest, I venture to send the same for publication. Being a stranger to the insect fauna of N. America, and in the absence of anything like a manual of the Heterocera, I should, even with the assistance of the Brit. Mus. Catalogues and Gueneé’s work, have had great difficulty in identifying my specimens. Fortunately this difficulty was removed by Mr. Grote, of Buffalo, who, in the kindest manner, has from time to time named my material. For this courteous assistance I am under lasting obligations. I have thought it advisable not in all cases to adopt the genera of Mr. Grote’s “ List of N. American Noctuide,” for in the unsettled state of nomenclature at present existing, I prefer the arrangement of M. Guene¢. This I, moreover do, for reasons not neces- 4 THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. sary here to mention. It will be observed there are in my list several species,and even some genera, hitherto new to science; these have in nearly all cases been published by Mr. Grote in various journals. Many of the Homopteride I have omitted altogether, as it seems hopeless to identify them by the meagre descriptions existing. Finally, Mr. Grote has several specimens yet undetermined, which will have to be added to the list. Thyatira cymatophorotdes—t14th July; at sugar ; not common. expultrix—23rd June to July ; not common. Raphia frater—25th June; rare; at sugar. Acronycta occidentalis—2nd June to August; common; at sugar and at rest. moruda—toth July ; rare ; at rest. connecta—ti2th August ; rare ; at sugar. hastulifera—26th June ; not common ; at rest. — dactylina—z24th July ; rare; at sugar. brumosa—t17th May to August; at rest and at sugar; not un- common. ———— Verrilli—zoth July ; rare; at sugar. —_—__—— noctivaga—6th June to August ; rare ; at light and at sugar. —_—— superans—-25th June and July; not unfrequent ; at sugar. — ovata—18th June; bred ; rare; at sugar. — subochrea. NN. sp.—and July; rare; at sugar. dissecta—17th June ; two specimens at rest. — oblinita—z26th May ; rest; very frequent; a second brood in August ; cocoons frequent on palings. Bryophila lepidula-—19th July ; rare at sugar. palliatricula—ezgoth June ; frequent ; at rest and at sugar. Noctua sigmotdes—2gth June to August ; not unfrequent ; at sugar. ———augur—3rd July ; eommon ; at sugar. ———baya—3rd August to September ; very common ; at sugar. ———C. nigrum-—1 ith June to September ; very common ; at sugar and light ; specimens larger than in Europe. bicarnea—3 1st July to September ; very frequent; at sugar and at lime blooms. Normaniana, WN. sp.—z21st July to September; frequent; at sugar. This has hitherto been, I believe, considered the same as J. triangulum. I am reminded much more of WV depuncta, which seems its nearest ally. os THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. o Noctua clandestina—t1gth June to July ; common; at sugar and lime blooms. brunneicollis—2nd July to September ; rare; at sugar. alternata—ist July to September ; very common ; at sugar. cupida—t7th July to August; frequent ; at sugar. rube ?—ath August ; rare; at sugar. Agrotis herilis—3 1st July to September; very common; at rest, sugar and light. 3 tricosa—3rd August to September ; very common; at rest, sugar and light. ——— subgothica—oth August to September; not so frequent as the above two species ; at rest, sugar and lght. All three species.in abundance on flowers of Thistle (Cirstum arvense) and unexpanded flowers of Venbascum thapsus. Jennica—ioth August ; one specimen at rest in the Montebello Gardens. —_—-— geladiaria. N. sp. Morr.—Sept. 5th; not unfrequent at sugar and light. tesselata—2g9th June ;_ bred from larva found in abundance at the roots of Malva rotundifolia in May ; after- wards to 2nd of July, swarming; at sugar, © rest and at lime blooms. Many remarkable aud beautiful varieties. ——— Cochrani—z7th July ; bred afterwards; common; at sugar and rest to September. saucia—t14th August ; not uncommon ; at sugar. suffusa—2nd June to October; swarming at sugar, flowers and light. venerabilis—6th September ; not uncommon ; at light and sugar; also bred. Apleta pressa. N. sp—6th July ; lime blooms and at rest ; several. — herbida—27th June to September ; common at rest; less frequent at sugar. ——— nimbosa—6th August ; rare; at sugar. — latex—3o0th May to June; not uncommon ; at rest. Ammoconia badicollis—31st July ; rare ; at sugar. Hadena subjuncta—2nd July ; rare at sugar. vicina. NN. sp.—a4th June; rare at sugar. confusa—8th May ; rare at palms. 6 THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. Hadena albifusa—s5th June to August ; common at rest, flowers and sugar. claviplena—ogth July ; rare at sugar. ——~— xylinoides—23rd May to June ; common at rest and at sugar; a second brood in August, smaller in size. Dianthoecia meditata—t1 1th August ; not rare at sugar and at rest. Mamestra arctica—22nd June to August ; swarming at rest, and at sugar and lime blooms; also at light; bred from warty larvee found under stones in May. ———— devastator—24th June to September. By far the most com- mon moth here ; a perfect nuisance at sugar. Apamea jaspis—3oth May to July ; common at rest and at sugar. fimitima—toth June ; common at rest; rarely at sugar. mactata—3 1st August to September ; common at rest and sugar. modica—7th July to September ; very common at rest and sugar. ——— reniformis— 31st July to September ; not uncommon at sugar. Celena herbimacula—23rd June to October ; seemingly a succession of _ broods ; very common at sugar, light and rest. chalcedonia—25th June ; rare at sugar. Dipterygia pinastri—t14th June ; not common at sugar and at rest. Xylophasia apamiformis—t16th June ; frequent at sugar and at rest. sputator—ath July to September ; common at sugar and bred. — dubitans—tz2th July ; rare ; one specimen in spider’s web. lignicolor—27th June to August; common at sugar and lime blooms. verbascoides—gth July ; rare; one specimen at sugar. sectilis—t1 2th June to August ; not uncommon at sugar and rest. carvtosa—6th July ; rare; one specimen at rest. Cloantha ramosula——18th May; rest hybernated ; 1st September, fresh specimen at rest ; rare. —vomerina—8th May; rare at Sallow Palms (Salix caprea ). Phlogophora periculosa—6th August ; rare at sugar. — zris—gth June ; rare at sugar. Euplexia lucipara—2nd June to August ; not common; at rest and sugar. Nephelodes violans—tist September; common at light and sugar, but always in bad condition. Luceria loculata—27th June ; not uncommon at sugar. Hydrecia lorea—t16th June to July ; common at light, flowers and sugar. nictitans—2tst July to August; common at sugar; neither so variable nor so beautiful as European specimens. (To be Continued.) ——— THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 7 TINEINA FROM TEXAS. BY V. T. CHAMBERS, COVINGTON, KENTUCKY. (Continued from page 249, vol. vi.) Since the preceding portion of this paper, as well as much of that which follows in this and some. following numbers, were placed in the hands of the Editor of the Can. Ent., I have received from Mr. Belfrage another collection of Tinzina from Basque County, Texas, containing additional specimens of species found in the first collection, and several new species. The only species contained in this last collection which has been previously described from more Western localities, and were not contained in the former collection, are Gelechia solaniella? Cham. and Strobisia iridipennella Clem. and Theisoa bifasciella. The specimens of the first named differ somewhat from bred specimens from Kentucky and Missouri, so that I mark them doubtfully as of this species; I however believe them to be the same. Strobisia venustella Cham., I am now satisfied, is a synonym for S. iridipennella Clem. Because of the presence of several brilliant blue spots on the wings of my specimens, not men- tioned in Dr. Clemens’ description, I was led to believe that they belonged to a different species. But the individuals vary in this respect. Mr. Stainton, in his edition of the Clemens’ papers, has corrected Dr. Clemens’ description so far as it differed from specimens in his collection. Dr. Clemens’ description was probably correct of the specimens observed by him. The single Texas specimen in this collection has a less number of the blue spots than any other that I have seen. I insert here a few descriptions of species contained in Mr. Belfrage’s last collection, which are new, reserving for a future paper other new species and notes on those described in papers already in the hands of the Editor. The second collection was made in Basque County, Texas. HYPONOMEUTA. HI. 5-punctella. WN. sp. Snowy white. On the forewings are five distinct, circular, black spots, three of them forming a line along the middle of the wing, the other two being in the dorsal half of the wing, one of them opposite the space between the first and second, and the other opposite the space between the second and third spots. The first spot is placed about the basal 8 THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. fourth, the second about the middle, and the third about the apical fourth. Hind wings silvery white, tinged with gray. AZ. ex. 34 inch. Basque Co. HI. apicipunctella. WN. sp. I fear this specific name may at times prove mis-leading, as the apical black spot is small and may not be observed if the specimen is at all denuded. Silvery white, the hind wings silvery, tinged with gray. There is a distinct black spot on the middle of the anterior margin of the thorax, one on each side of the tip of the thorax, and another on each side before the tip, and one on the patagia. On the forewings there is a black spot at the base, above but near to the fold, a little further back is one on the dorsal margin; above the fold and nearly opposite the second of these wing spots, are two others, one a little further back and nearer to the fold than the other. Further back on the fold is another, near to which, above the fold and about the middle of the wing, is another circular spot, larger than the others. Behind this spot are four others, forming a trapezoidal figure, and behind these, in the apical part of the wing, is a longitudinal spot or dash ; there is also a similar dash on the dorsal margin, just before the ciliae. There are six black spots at the base of the dorsal ciliae, and five narrow black dashes along the base of the costal ciliae, and there is a black spot at the tip of the citiae behind the row at their base. AZ. ex. 1% inch. Basque Co. GRACILARIA. I observe that by some error this generic name is in some preceding papers spelled with two l’s. Gracilaria is the correct form of the word, and the same form is in use for a genus of Marine Algz. I am not able to state which genus the name was first applied to. I will add here that the name of one of Dr. Clemens’ genera Asfidisca is pre-occupied among the Infusoria (Asfidisca, Ehrenberg. ) G. Belfragella. WN. sp. Antennae purple brown; face and palpi white; the second joint of | the maxillary palpi and the third joint of the lebial pair tipped beneath with brown. Thorax and wings purple brown. The costal triangle is very pale lemon yellow, and reaches the fold, where it is somewhat trun-- THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST, 9: cate ; posteriorly it extends as a rather wide band along the costal margin to the ciliae. Sides of the thorax purple brown. Anterior and middle legs purple brown, with white tarsi; hind legs whitish, except the apical halves of the femora, which are purple brown. Al. ex. 7 to is inch. Basque Co. NERA, geil. nov. Second joint of the palpi with a projecting tuft, more nearly like that of a Plutel/a than that of any other genus known to me. When the tuft is removed from the second joint, the palpi resemble those of a Laverna, for which I at first mistook it, and the deception is the more readily believed because of the tufts of raised scales on the wings. The form and neuration of the hind wings is exactly that of Cveodora cytisella, as figured in Zvs. Brit., v. 3, while the fore wings, though a little narrower than those of Gelechia rufescens loc. cit., have very nearly the same neuration. The antennae are more than half as long as the fore wings, with the basal joint short and hardly larger than the stalk, which tapers from the middle to the tip. The palpi are somewhat recurved, and long enough to reach the vertex, with the terminal joint a little fusiform, with — the tip blunt. The head resembles that of a true Laverna, but the face is not so full. N. fusco-cristatella. LN. sp. Head and face white; second joint of the palpi and the tuft more or less externally marked with dark brown, and the third joint with two brown annulations, one narrow and indistinct about the middle, and a wide one before the apex.. The face is marked a little with brown about the base of the antennae, which are white, annulate with brown, and the sinal basal joint has two distinct brown annulations, one about its base, the other before its apex. The upper surface of the thorax and fore wings. is ash gray, sometimes nearly white, and sometimes suffused with ochreous. and brown, and when the thorax and base of the wings are not so suffused, then the white passes gradually into the gray or ochreous brown, deepening gradually to the apex. To the naked eye the greater number of individuals appear to have the thorax and basal fourth and the apical third of the fore wings ochreous or reddish brown, while the middle _por- tion of the wings is white or yellowish white. There are on the fore wings four brown spots, the first placed on the base of the costa, with the others following in a line departing a little from the extreme costa ;. 10 THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. opposite the space between the two last of these spots, and beneath the fold, is another small brown spot on the base, near the dorsal margin ; there is also one on the apex of the thorax, and sometimes three or four obscure ones on the thorax before it. Beneath the fold, close to, but not touching it, at about half the wing length, is a tuft of raised scales, the anterior portion being brown and the posterior white. Behind the discal cell are two other tufts, opposite to each other, one within the costal margin and the other within the dorsal margin, and behind the space ‘between these tufts are three or four narrow, longitudinal streaks of white and dark gray, and the dorsal margin behind the tuft is whitish. Behind the costal tuft is an oblique white costal streak, passing backwards towards asmall whitish spot in the dorsal ciliae, and margined decidedly behind ‘by dark brown ; behind the margin of this streak .the costal margin along the base of the ciliae is reddish ochreous, with three or four small white spots on the base of the ciliae, which are grayish brown. ‘There is also a small brown spot on the costa just before the middle, and one on the ‘disc behind it. AZ. ex. 3g to % inch. Waco and Basque Co. BUTALIS. B. buristriga. LV. sp. Dark purple brown, with a narrow yellow streak along the middle of the fold, which is sometimes interrupted. Aé ex. % inch. — Season, October. B. dorsipallidella. LN. sp. Dark purple brown ; the base of the primaries and the dorsal margin to the fold, pale ochreous yellow faintly suffused with purplish. Al. ex. Y%inch. Season, April. B. immaculatella. WN. sp. Dark bronzy brown, somewhat iridescent; the second joint of the palpi a little pale beneath. Al. ex. 1% inch. Season, April. The two following species I have been unable to separate from Bufulzs otherwise than by the ornamentation, which is altogether different from that of the other species. L. plausipenella. LV. sp. Very pale ochreous yellow, nearly white; the second joint of the antennae stained with fuscous towards the apex, and a fuscous annulus THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. ll —— around the middle of the third joint. Primaries obscurely streaked with pale fuscous between the veins. A/. ex. 14 inch. B. albapenella. LN. sp. White, with a very faint ochreous tinge. Ad ex, % inch. Season July GLAUCE, gew. 100. The species for which this genus is erected is congeneric with, or, at least, is closely allied to some species of Ge/echia, and but for the pecull- arities of the secondaries, I should have placed it in that indefinite group. Head and face smooth; scales appressed; face broad, somewhat retreating ; antennae more than half as long as the wings, stalk simple, basal joint elongate but not enlarged ; tongue moderately long, scaled ; no maxillary palpi; labial palpi recurved, divaricating, overarching the vertex ; third joint pointed, nearly as long as the second, which is scarcely thickened beneath. Primaries lanceolate ; cell closed, short and narrow ; costal vein short ; the subcostal sends two veins to the costal margin from behind the middle, - one from the end of the cell, and the apical branch, which is trifid, the first branch going to the dorsal margin, the other two to the costal margin ; the median subdivides into four branches from the hinder part of the cell ; the discal is shert, with no branch, and the submedian is furcate at the base. Secondaries a little narrower than the primaries, with the posterior margin excised beneath the tip; ¢he costal margin from the base to the middle is armed with a row of stiff, sharp, two-edged bristles, passing gradually towards the middle of the costa into large scales, and is _ slightly excised from the middle tothe tip. Zhe cell is closed, short and wide, the discal vein being placed about the middle of the wing, long and without any distinct branch. The subcostal is straight and furcate before the tip, one branch going to each margin. A branch of the discal vein or a fold is faintly indicated, and is continued through the cell to the base ; the median gives off a short branch before its middle, and three from the end of the cell; submedian somewhat distinct, internal obsolete ; there is also a faintly indicated vein or fold through the middle of the cell from the base, touching the median between its last two branches. a? THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. G. pectenalectla. WN. sp. The ground color appears to be pale yellowish, but it is almost entirely obscured by dense fuscous dusting and fuscous spots; apex of the primaries more deeply fuscous; head a little iridescent; antennae annulate with sordid yellowish. Al. ex. 7 inch. Season, September. (To be Continued.) THE MEXICAN: HONEY ANT. (Myrmecocystus Mexicanus. ) BY THE EDITOR. During the summer of 1873 we received from an esteemed corre- spondent, Mr. Jacob Krummeck, residing in Santa Fe, New Mexico, several packages of this most curious insect, accompanied by letters. giving interesting details of their habits and of the uses to which the ) honey they secrete is put. In fig. 1 our readers will find excellent figures: of a worker, a honey secreter and cocoons, commonly known as eggs, drawn by Miss Peart, of Philadelphia. At the meeting of the American Pharmaceutical Asscciation, held in Baltimore in 1873, we presented a paper on this insect, from which we quote the following : Fig. 1. Very little can be found in Entomological works relating: to this insect. Some thirty years ago, a Belgian naturalist, M. ‘Wesmael, received specimens from a party travelling in Mexico, and published some obser- vations on it in the fifth volume of the Bulletin of the Royal Academy of Brussels, giving it the name of AZyrmecocystus Mexicanus. The discoverer found them very common near the town of Dolores, where they were known under the native name of Busileras. He states that they live in underground nests, which are not distinguishable from without. In early life none of these insects present any unusual distension of the body, but when arrived at a certain period of maturity some individuals begin to. THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 13 show a distended abdomen, which after a time becomes swollen into a comparatively immense sphere, produced by the distension of the mem- brane connecting the abdominal segments, this sphere or sac being filled with a sort of honey. Another class of individuals in the community, raised from the same brood of eggs, manifest no tendency of this sort, but retain the usual normal form of abdomen. Both these classes of ants are neuters. | When the sacs of the honey-producers are full they are somewhat like a transparent bubble of a yellowish color. They are unable in consequence of their immense burden to leave their nests, and are necessarily almost inactive, remaining fixed or suspended to the floors of the galleries of their nests elaborating this honey, which, it is said, they subsequently discharge into cells similar to those of the hive. It is also stated that the women and children dig them up and enjoy their honey, and that it is by no means unusual for these insects to be served at table, the head and thorax with the legs being removed, when the distended abdomens are eaten as a delicate sweetmeat. The neuter ant without the distended abdomen is the active worker in the establishment. Our friend Krummeck informs us that they are found in considerable numbers in the mountains around Santa Fe; that the honey ants are unable to move and are fed by the active workers. He says, ‘‘I have sat by their nests and watched them working, for, at one time, six or seven hours; the workers carry leaves of different plants home, to feed, as I suppose, the others that produce the honey.” Mr. Krummeck has tried to procure us specimens of the plants on which this insect feeds, but has not yet succeeded. He does not think that the honey is deposited by these honey ants in cells, as has been stated, but that they keep the fluid in their bodies, and the workers feed from them, and that when the honey in the sac of an individual is exhausted, it dies. In reference to the uses made of this honey in New Mexico, he says that the natives make a very pleasant drink of it, which is made in the proportion of three or four drachms of the honey to six ounces of water. It has no commercial value, is not brought to market, but simply made for their own use. They use this drink among themselves in the mountains in cases of fever, where medical attendance cannot be obtained. The honey is also used by them as a cure for eye diseases, especially for cataract. Being very anxious to see this insect alive, Mr. Krummeck very kindly did his best to gratify us in this particular, having twice sent us boxes of living specimens, but. the unavoidable delay and knocking about 14 THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. attendant on so long a journey by mail, has in each case resulted in the death of all the ants before they reached their destination, the packages. being literally soaked with the honey which had escaped from their bodies’ ON SOME OF OUR COMMON INSECTS. THE GREEN GRAPE-VINE WORM—Amphipyra pyramidoides. BY THE @EDITOR. The caterpillar of this species, shown in fig. 2, is occasionally very destructive to the grape vine, with us more particularly affecting those grown under glass, although it is not by any means confined to this plant,. feeding readily on the plum, pear, thorn, raspberry and poplar. The larva is found early in June, and is full grown usually about the middle of the month. Its length is from one and a quarter to one and a half inches, the body tapering towards the front and thickened behind, ‘The head is rather smali, flattened in front, and of a whitish green color, with the jaws or mandibles tipped with black. The body is whitish green, a litle darker on the sides, with a white stripe down the back, a little broken between the segments and widening somewhat behind. ‘There is a bright yellow stripe on each side close to the under surface, which is most distinct on the hinder segments, and a second one of the same color, but fainter, half way between this and the dorsal line; this latter is more distinct on the posterior portion of the body, and follows the peculiar prominence on the twelfth segment, as shown in the figure. The under side of the body is pale green. When full grown, this caterpillar changes to a dark brown chrysalis,. either at or a little under the surface of the ground, from which the moth ¢ THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 15 appears in the latter part of July. This moth, which is represented in fig. 3, measures, when its wings are expanded, about one and three quarter sor 2 Fig, oO. inches; the fore wings are dark brown, shaded with paler brown, and with dots and wavy lines of dull white. The hind wings are reddish with almost a coppery lustre, becoming brown on the outer angle of the front edge of the wing, and paler towards the hinder and inner angle. The under surface of the wings is much lighter in color than the upper; the body is dark brown, with the hinder portion banded with lines of a paler hue. CORRESPONDENCE. DEAR SIR,— Mr. A. R. Grote has published a paper in the ‘ Bulletin of the Buffalo: Society of Natural Sciences,’ in which some statements are made which call for correction on my part. I shall not allude to his personal remarks, similar in character to those which he has made concerning others who have ventured to criticize his scientific work or to correct his mistakes ; but to the palpable blunders into which he has fallen with respect to some species recently described by me in the Proceedings of the Boston Society of Natural History. The following is a list of those of my species which were corrected (sic) by Mr. Grote: adena rasilis, H. vulgivaga, Glaea. sericea, Agrotis exertistigna, Xanthoptera nigrocaput, Copipanolis vernalis and Mamestra wlabefacta. Mr. Grote states that my /. rasilis is a re-description of Zlaphria grata Hubn., referred by him in the List to Caradrina! If Mr. Grote will examine Hubner’s figure, he will see that it represents a much larger, stouter, and entirely different.insect. Mr. Grote has apparently overlooked 16 THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. the fact that it is an excellent representation of the common species determined as Zueniocampa oviduca in collections ;_ this, therefore, shonld be considered a synonym of gra¢a, and rasz/is remain a distinct species of Hadena. My comparisons were made with two copies of the “ Zutrarge;” a fine one in the library of Mr. S. H. Scudder, and another more coarsely colored in that of Harvard University. Mr. Grote remarks that my Hadena vilgivaga is probably a re-descrip- tion of A. apamiformis Guen. I am perfectly well acquainted with Gueneé’s species, and va/givaga has not the slightest resemblance to it ; it is, as I mention in the description, a new species allied to HZ. rurea. Mr. Grote states that my Glaca sericea seems to be founded on a ‘specimen sent him for determination, and which he considered identical with his Orthosia / apiata. I never sent a specimen of Glaea sericea to Mr. Grote, and the species is entirely distinct from afiafa. I did send Mr. Grote a variety of apéata for comparison with his type, and this he has probably confounded with sericea. Mr. Grote remarks that my Agrotis exertistigma is probably only a Californian variety of al/ternata. After re-examining my material, con- sisting of two specimens of the former species and about twenty of the latter from Nebraska to Canada, I do not see any reason to change my opinion, but I should be happy to do so if Mr. Grote can prove the species identical. Mr. Grote refers my NXanthoptera nigrocaput as a synonymn of X. Ridingsii Riley. The fact is that the author’s copies of the first signature of Mr. Riley’s paper, containing the name and a few lines of the descrip- tion of his new Xazthopicra, were distributed some time before my paper appeared (I did not receive a copy, however, until January, 1875). The second signature, containing the larger part of the description, has not yet appeared, to my knowledge (Jan. 25th, 1875.) Mr. Grote’s attention having been called by me to his erroneous arrangement of the species of NXanthoptera, he at once improves the opportunity to found a new genus, Zxyra. It is obvious that this genus (even if a needful one) can not stand, as it is not accompanied by a word of generic diagnosis. In a similar manner he founds a new genus for my semiapata, after having only a month before (see Proc. Ac. Nat. Sci., Phil., 7, 206, 1874) entirely mistaken its generic characters and placed it in Apamea. THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST, 17 Mr. Grete states that my Copipanolis vernalis is a re-description of his Eutolype Rolandi. ‘Vhe fact is, Mr. Grote has priority by one day (his paper was read Nov. 3rd, and mine Nov. 4th.) In the same papers were published Apamea purpuripennis Grote and Orthosia baliola Morr.; these species are synonyms and Mr. Grote’s name has priority. Lastly, Mr. Grote states that I have re-described Dr. Harvey’s Mamestra lilacina. On the appearance of Dr. Harvey’s description, I gave Mr. Grcte a typical specimen of my species, and requested him to compare with the type of Dr. Harvey’s species, and give his opinion. In his letter (which I should be glad to show to any one interested) he states unequivocally that the species are distinct, and on his word i published my description of ¢//abefacta. In this letter I have only referred to those mistakes of Mr. Grote’s which, if allowed to remain unanswered, would create a wrong impression in regard to my work. I make no attack upon him or upon his work, although, if I were desirous of doing so, material would not be lacking. The identification of specimens of the common ——$ 56. Agrotis cupida Grote. A single specimen, without number, sent by Mr. Behrens, belongs apparently to this species. | 57. Asgrotis subgothica (Haw). Agrotis jaculifera Guen. Two fresh specimens sent by Mr. Hy. Edwards under the number 4656, from Vancouver Island. The colors are’ more intense, else I see no differences from our Eastern material. 22. Mamestra wlaudibilis Grote. Mamestra laudabilis Grote, Ante p. 157. Both sexes are sent by Mr. Hy. Edwards, from Vancouver Island of this species, which agrees in size with the Eastern /audadilis,. and in the lunulations of the median lines. The Western species differs by the tegulae being lined with black, by the median space being wholly black, by the sub-basal and sub-terminal spaces being greenish white, and apparently by the smaller reniform. The bright green tint of /audabilis is wanting. The white hind wings have the median nervules soiled with fuscous, and the @ has a blackish clouding in the disc. The abdomen is whitish, over fuscous. California; Vancouver Island, Nos. 5580 and 5581, Mr. Hy. Edwards. 58. Mamestra oliracea Morr., Proc. Bost. Soc. N. Hist., 1874, 143. To this species I would refer a specimen from Colorado, sent by Mr. Theo. L. Mead, under the No. 41, one from Canada sent by Mr. Saunders, and two from Vancouver Island sent by Mr. Hy.-Edwards, under the No. 5580. It is distinguishable from AZ. 4-lineata, M. laudabilis and ‘M. illaudabilis by the fuscous hind wings, and from the two latter by the greater evenness of the median lines. It is a little larger than any of the other species and bears a certain resemblance to Hadena modica. Besides these, five specimens from Vancouver Island seem merely to differ by being a little smaller and more blackish, the fore wings a little shorter, the white subterminal line sometimes showing a ruddy and pale blotch before it, near the internal margin, and in one specimen the t. p. line tinted with reddish. ‘They agree in the fuscous secondaries and in the comparative evenness of the median lines, while the median space varies a little in width. ‘These latter specimens bear the number 5579. 28 THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 39. Hadena divesta Grote, ante, 215. Three fresh specimens from Vancouver Island, with the fore wings a little more brown than the Californian type. This handsome species may be recognized by the outward position of the t. p. line and its general straightness. It is allied to at/antica, subjuncta, etc., but is far prettier .and has possibly a nearer European ally. Vancouver Island, No. 5573, Mr. Hy. Edwards. 59. Hadena indirecta Grote. This species resembles H. divesta, but the t. p. line is exserted on the median nervules, below which it runs inwardly, constricting the median space greatly inferiorly, The fore wings are more purely brown; the median space blackish. The W-shaped mark of the subterminal line obsolete, not distinct as in divesta. The orbicular is oblique and narrow, not rounded and full as in its ally. The hind wings are fuscous, with the line not as distinct as in divesta. There is a dark mark on the sub- terminal fold of primaries before the subterminal line, and the fold on the median space is also marked. The median lines are geminate, the veins beyond thet. p. line dark marked. There appears to be a dark basal mark continued along veint. Expause 36m.m. ‘Two specimens, the male with simple antennae, in not the best condition, sent by Mr. Hy. Edwards from Vancouver Island, under the number 5588. 60. Actinotia Stewarti Grote. The eyes are naked and the species is congeneric with the Eastern vamosula. The basal ray is broader. The pale reniform is closed with a V-shaped outward notch, and situated nearer to the t. p. line, which latter is visible as a continuous dark shade, angulate on the veins, from opposite the cell to internal margin, The orbicular is oblique, not longitudinal pale centered, black ringed, small. ‘The wing is shaded with brown below the basal dash, and also below vein 2. The inferior zigzag portion of the t. a. line is visible. Hind wings darker than in ramosuda, wholly fuscous. Lixpanse 30m. m. y California, Mr. Hy. Edwards, No. 4567; named for my assistant, Mr. W. W. Stewart. THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 29 ON SOME OF OUR COMMON INSECTS. THE CYLINDRICAL ORTHOSOMA— Orthosoma cylindricum, Fabr. BY THE EDITOR. This formidable looking, long-horned beetle, fig. 4, 1s very common in most portions of Ontario during the month of July. It flies at night with a rapid and noisy flight, entering the open . a windows of lighted rooms during the evenings, / often to the great alarm of nervous inmates. ‘This beetle measures an inch and a quarter, or even more in length, and is about one-third of an inch in width. Its body is long and narrow and of a light brown color, which assumes a darker shade on the head and antennae. The thorax is furnished with three sharp teeth on each side, and each wing case has three slightly raised ribs or lines. The larva of this insect inhabits decaying pine wood, especially pine stumps, and is sup- poseed to be several years in completing its growth; it closely resembles the larva of its near relative, Prionus Jaticollis, shown in fig. 5 (after Riley.) This latter, however, differs somewhat in its habits and appetite, seeming to prefer boring into and feeding on living roots, such as those of the Lombardy Poplar, Balm of Gilead, Apple, Pear, and especially roots of the Grape-vine, in the latter case frequently causing the sudden death of the vines attacked. 30 THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. TINEINA FROM TEXAS. BY V. T. CHAMBERS, COVINGTON, KENTUCKY. (Continued from page 12), LAVERNA. TI have only examined the neuration of one of the species which I here place in this genus, but they are all evidently congeneric, and the neuration of Z. /yonetiedla while not that of L. cephalonthiella, nor of either of the three species figured in us. Brit., v. 3., does not differ therefrom more than they differ from each other. The limits of the genus are perhaps not so clearly defined as might be wished in respect to the neuration and the raised tufts on the primaries, but as the genus is at present recognized, the proper location of these species is in it. The neuration of L. cephalonthiella is almost identical with that of Z. Stainton?, the chief difference being that the cell of the hind wings is closed and the superior branch of the fork of the apical vein goes to the costal instead of the dorsal margin. The neuration of the primaries is identical with that of Stazztoni, except that the submedian is furcate at both ends. In L. lyonetiella the neuration of the primaries is exactly that of Stazutonz, but the secondaries are narrower, the costal vein is very long, attaining the margin beyond the end of the cell, which is closed ;_ the subcostal is obsolete from the base to the end of the cell, beyond which it is distinct and furcate, one branch going to the apex and the other to the dorsal margin; the median divides into three equidistant branches ; the sub- median and internal veins are distinct, thus resembling the neuration of Chauliodus perhaps as nearly as that of Laverna. It is, however, I think nearer that of ZL. /ongiella. L. enothereedla. LN. sp. ‘ Second joint of the palpi silvery white, with a dark brown spot beneath, near the tip; third joint silvery white, with the apex and a spot beneath at the base brown. Antennae pale yellowish: face, vertex, thorax and forewings silvery white, except as follows: there is a spot at the middle of the anterior margin of the thorax, one also at its tip, and four small ones forming a transverse row across the middle, all of which are shining dark brown ; there is also a similar spot at the base of the hind margin of the forewings, which to the naked eye appears to be on the margin of the thorax before the tip; and there is another just within the dorsal margin. THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. : 31 of the wing, just before the middle, and a small costal one a little further back. There is an irregular golden spot, sprinkled with brownish and containing a small tuft of raised scales, on the dorsal margin just before the ciliae, which sends backwards two narrow, oblique, golden streaks,,. one of which passes to the dorsal margin, and the other, which has some brown scales intermixed, passes back towards the middle of the apical part of the wing, where it becomes confluent with a median, short, straight golden or orange streak, and with a rather long, curved, oblique and nar- row costal streak, which begins just before the ciliae and is of the same hue with the other streaks, except near the costa, where it is brown. These three streaks proceed no further after their union, stopping short of the apex; but,behind them, in the middle of the apical part of the wing and extending along through the apex and apical ciliae, is another large dark brown streak ; and on the costal margin are two large, oblique, reddish golden streaks, the first of which touches the three confluent streaks above mentioned and the dark brown streak in the apex; the second one appears to be faintly divided on the costa by a small white streak, and is narrowly margined behind by dark brown scales; and. behind it is a triangular white spot in the ciliae. Beyond this white spot in the ciliae are two narrow, dark brown, oblique lines, diverging from a common point and reminding one of the ‘hook’ in some species of Gracilaria, and the similar appearance in Polyhymno, to which, in the ornamentation of the apical parts of the wings, this species bears consider- able resemblance, as it also does to some species of Lyonetia in so far as the arrangement of these marks is concerned. The apical black streak is bordered behind by a short perpendicular streak of the same hue. Dorsal ciliae white, dusted with dark brown. First two pair of legs dark brown ; the tarsi of the posterior pair are annulate with yellow, the legs. otherwise silvery white, marked with black spots. Abdomen pale stramineous ; secondaries pale yellowish fuscous ; under side of primaries fuscous. Al. -ex. nearly half an inch. I have also received specimens of it from Miss Murtfeldt, of St. Louis, who bred it from a larva mining in the stalk of the so-called Primrose ( Enothera Missouriensis), and who sends me the following notes: “The larva of this exquisite little moth may be found during the months of August and September boring the stems of @xothera Mis- souriensis. It feeds upon the pith, leaving the tunnel in its wake filled with coarse powdery granules, and it does not seem to check the growth of the plant to any great extent. -32 : THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. a “The larva is cylindrical in form, with the full complement of very short legs. When mature it measures from 0.45 to 0.50 inch in length, with a diameter of 0.08. Color, pale yellow immaculate, except for the transversely oblong brown spot on the first segment, which represents the ‘cervical shield. The incisions are deep and abrupt, and under the lens the surface appears covered with shallow punctures or stippling. On the dorsum of each segment are two transverse ridges of minute warty elevations, each giving rise to a fine light hair. Head small, oblique, polished, dark, mottled with brown ; jaws a few shades paler. “These larvae remain dormant in the stems over winter and until spring is quite advanced. They then cut holes through the sides of the stem to, but not through, the thin outer bark or cuticle, showing on the latter like a round transparent spot. The place of egress thus provided, the larvae return to the central burrow and enclose themselves in thick, tough ‘cocoons of white silk in the midst of a loose web of the same material ‘The pupa is rather thick and of a pinkish color, and the wing cases cover only the upper half of the abdomen. This state lasts from 20 to 25 days, the imagines appearing about the last of May.” I-have before stated that Miss Murtfeldt has sent me Gelechia super- bella from St. Louis. St. Louis is on the same parallel that we are on at Covington, but southern insects seem to extend further north along the shores of the Mississippi than along the Ohio. This seems to be especially true as to Southern Illinois. Neither of the two species (enothereedla and superbella) are found in Northern Kentucky. L. unicristatella. LN. sp. Palpi slender, white, with a narrow, obscure brownish annulation about the middle of the third joint and another near the apex. Head and antennae white. Base of the wings white, except on the costa, the white extending along the dorsal margin to a tuft of raised scales about the middle, but interrupted about the basal fourth by a projection to the ' dorsal margin of the ochreous and fuscous scales which cover the costal portion of the wing, extending to the fold. The scales of the tuft are white, tipped with dark brown, and immediately before it the white of the dorsal margin projects across the fold into the ochreous and fuscous portion of the wing. In the ochreous and fuscous portion those colors are intermixed with each other and with some white scales, and they spread over the apical part of the wing, where the white is increased in THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. a quantity so as to form an indistinct, pale, irregular fascia at the beginning of the ciliae; at the apex the ochreous brown again prevails. over the white. At the base of the costa the ochreous fuscous is very narrow. Posterior wings purplish fuscous ; under surface and_ legs. whitish, the legs marked with brownish on their anterior surfaces. Al. ex. 7 inch. L. rufocristatella. LN. sp. ‘White ; antennce annulate with brown. There is a small reddish ochreous tuft on the disc before ihe middle of the primaries, behind which the wing is suffused with reddish ochreous; a larger tuft nearly opposite to the first one, and nearer to the dorsal margin, of the same hue with the first one, and another just within the dorsal margin opposite the beginning of the ciliae. Between this last tuft and the costa, and thence to the apex, the wing is suffused with reddish ochreous, sparingly dusted with _fuscous. Al. ex. 7 inch. Season, July. L. ignotilisella. LN. sp. No raised tufts on the wings. Silvery white, the costal margin about the middle dusted with pale purple and ochreous scales: an irregular streak or sinus of spots, which are connected by ochreous brown dusting, begins before the middle of the disc, and extends backwards, spreading over the apical part of the wing. Al. ex.xs inch. Season, September. L. albocapitella. LN. sp. Head, thorax and base of the dorsal margin of the wings pure snowy white; antennae purplish fuscous, iridescent; palpi white, stained externally wtth pale purplish fuscous ; the white patch at the base of the dorsal margin of the primaries is posteriorly narrowly margined with dark brown, containing a small raised tuft on the margin. The remainder of the primaries are of an indescribable hue, composed of grayish brown ochreous and white scales intermixed, the former hue predominating, or rather, it is brown streaked with ochreous and sprinkled with white ; there are three small tufts of dark brown raised scales, each anteriorly margined with white, the white followed by a margin of dark brown; two of them are on the disc before the middle, the other further back and nearer the dorsal margin, and behind it is a fourth tuft also near the dorsal margin ; there is a short dark brown streak in the apical part of the wing, within the dorsal margin, and a small dark brown spot about the end of the disc. Al. ex. mch. Season, September. 34 THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. L. parvicristatella. NN. sp. White, suffused with purplish brown; the second joint of the palpi suffused with purplish brown, and a brown annulus about the middle; antennae annulate with pale brown; primaries suffused with purplish brown, with an oblique brown streak beginning on the costa near the base, and extending nearly across the wing; another about the middle, crossing the wing, and a third less oblique and shorter about the beginning | of the costal ciliae, and produced backwards along the middle of the apical part of the wing, interrupting an indistinct, angulated white fascia; these streaks are not continuous, but are rather composed of small pur- plish brown spots of slightly raised ? scales, with a more distinct raised - tuft near the dorsal margin in each of the first two streaks, and between the small spots the wing is more deeply suffused than elsewhere. Dorsal ciliae silvery, those of the apex suffused with purplish; there is a narrow streak of dark brown scales along the middle of the apex. Al. ex. 3% inch. L. miscecalonella. LV. sp. White, suffused with ochreous yellow, with a raised tuft of the same hue in the middle of the disc on the primaries; basal third of the primaries (except the base of the dorsal margin) brown, with- reddish ochreous scales intermixed, and containing two tufts of dark brown raised scales, one of which is close to the dorsal margin, end before it to the base the margin is of the general hue (white, suffused with reddish ochreous), dusted a little with reddish fuscous; opposite to the dorsal tuft, just within the costal margin, is another larger raised tuft ; the middle part of the wing is yellowish white, and behind it the wing is deeply suffused with reddish ochreous, containing about its middle a tuft of dark brown scales ; apical part of the wing suffused with reddish ochreous and fuscous ; second joint of the palpi pale ochreous yellow, externally fus- cous, and the third joint is dark fuscous, except at the base and extreme tip. Alyex. % inch. Season, May. L. fuscocristatella. N. sp. White ; second joint of the palpi with two pale fuscous annulations ; antennae white, annulate with fuscous; head and upper surface of the thorax white; there is a small dark brown spot on each side of the thorax, over the base of the wings ; primaries white, with two small dark brown spots on the extreme costa at the base, two other larger ones just THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST, 35 within the costa behind them, one behind the other, and a small spot opposite the space between them, beneath the fold; the portion of the wing from the basal fourth to the end of the disc, included between the costa and the fold, is suffused with bluish fuscous scales, each of which under the microscope appears tipped with hoary, and the extreme costa is black; the wing beneath the fold is whitish ; just before the middle is a lunate streak of dark brown raised scales, extending from the dorsal margin to the fold, and margined with white in the concavity behind ; at the end of the disc are two other larger tufts of bluish brown raised scales, margined before by yellow ochreous, and opposite to them is a long, narrow, very oblique white costal streak, margined behind by a _ narrow, dark brown line, which separates it from a somewhat wider yellow ochreous streak, containing three small white costal streaks or spots ; behind the tufts the wing is ochreous, streaked with fuscous. Al. ex. % inch. Season, June. ‘ RECENT NOTES ON THE PHYLLOXERA FROM FOREIGN SOURCES. {FROM ‘fENTOMOLOGICAL RECORD,” BY TOWNEND GLOVER, IN MONTHLY REPORT OF THE U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. | In November last, information was received from Henry Erni, United States consul at Basle, Switzerland, that the PhyWoxera vastatrix had made its appearance near Geneva, and in December the following letter was received, which is published in full: Referring you to my dispatch No. 95, about the appearance of the grape-root louse at Pregney, near Geneva, the riddle received lately an important solution, for the insect was discovered in the grape-houses of | the Baron Rothschild, at his villa near Geneva. It is proved that some of these grape-vines were imported from England, in 1869, where the disease ocurred in grape-houses as early as 1863. From these facts the origin of the grape-louse at Pregney appears obvious. At the meeting of the-French Academy, on the rgth of October last, Professor Dumas stated that two substances had now been discovered 36 THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. capable of destroying the Phylloxera: st, the sulpho-carbonate of potassa, and 2d, coal-tar. Neither of these would injure the grape-plant. | Experiments made on a large scale at Cognac and Montpelier, France, by delegates of the academy, were highly efficient. Both ingredients are cheap, for the price of a kilogram of each does not exceed one franc. The sulpho-carbonate of potassa is dissolved in water up to 37° Baumé, and 80 cubic centimeter (xv liter) poured upon every diseased grape- root. The best time is in November and March, the ground at that time being moist and the insect sure to be in winter quarters. The expense per vine amounts to about 10 centimes. Applying coal-tar, each root receives about 2 kilograms of this liquid, when it will penetrate the ground about 2 feet deep. In both cases the grape-louse is effectually killed. Tam. sir, &c., | H. Erni, United States Consul. We also give extracts from the report of the international congress of vineyardists, at Montpelier, France, October 28, 1874, on the same sub- ject, from the Journal d’Agriculture Pratique, No. 46: The floor was taken by Mr. H. Mares, permanent secretary of the agricultural society of Herault, and president of the ministerial com- mission. He commenced by recalling to mind the experiments of 1872 and 1873, with the Phylloxera, which were unsatisfactory on account of the invasion of the ‘“pyrale.” In 1872 a new experimental field was selected, near Montpelier, belonging to M. Michel Termand. The experiments commenced the 6th July, and comprise fifty-one, methods, applied to squares of 25 vines each, the squares being separated by two rows of untreated vines, left to serve as means of comparison, and to prevent confusion in the effects of various modes of treatment. One hundred and forty methods have since been tried in the same vineyard, of which thirty-three were beneficial and nine injurious ; the others appeared to have no effect. The most beneficial were as follows, the soil being chalky and ferruginous: Potassium sulphate disolved in urine; a mixture of the sulphurized manure of Berre, colza cake, and ferric sul- phate ; potassium sulphate dissolved in water ; potash soap dissolved in water ; soot ; a mixture of farm-dung, wood-ashes, and ammonium hydro- chlorate ; cow-urine alone or with the addition of gas-tar, All the methods which have proved advantageous are also manurial, especially the salts of potash and ammonia. The, injurious methods are those insecticides not manures, as carbonic sulphide, turpentine, petroleum, gas-tar, and phenic THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. a¥e rat acid not diluted. The committee came to this conclusion : that manures, especially those rich in potash and nitrogenous substances, benefitted the affected vines. The trials were continued in 1874 on the thirty-three squares already improved, one-quarter of each being left to see if the improvement was permanent. The total number of experiments made was two hundred and fifty-nine, extending over two and one-half hectares. The squares which were benefitted in 1872 and 1873 have in some cases this year almost returned to their original vigor, but the Phylloxera has not disappeared. As regards the fruit, the following treatment has given'the best results : t, Yard-dung, wcod-ashes, and sal ammoniac. 2, Yard-dung, wood-ashes and fat lime. 3, Cow-urine and fish oil. 4, Cow-urine alone. 5, Oil- cake. 6, Potassium sulphate and urine. 7, Cow-urine and gas-tar. 8, Soot. 9, Sulphur, salt of Berre, ferric sulphate and colza cake. The vines surrounding the squares treated were also visibly affected. The experience of 1874 confirms and completes the results of 1872 and 1873, showing a diseased vine may at least temporarily be restored to vigor by energetic treatment. |The commission considers itself justified in asserting that manures, rich in potash and nitrogen, mixed with alkaline or earthy sulphates, refuse of salt-works, soot, wood-ashes, ammonia, or fat lime, have increased the productiveness of the vines and allowed the fruit to ripen. According to M. Marts the vine-disease is the result of combined causes, and subject to several conditions, viz.: 1. The nature of the soil, as it effects the vine and the insect, frequently a determining con- dition. 2. The influence of climate on the vine, and also whether or not it favors the extension of the insect. 3. The strength or vigor of growth of the vine itself, which varies according to the variety and mode of cul- ture. The wild vine does not perish ; the stock nearest approaching it is hardly attacked. M. Laliman spoke next, affirming that rooted American cuttings Hid been cultivated in localities where the Phylloxera had as yet failed to appear, either on the American or native stocks. M. Planchon then discussed the American vines, dividing them into three principal groups: 1. The Labrusca ; berries with foxy taste. 2. (Estivalis ; berries small ; leaves deeply indented ; wooly on the veins. 3: earditolia: of which the Clinton is a variety; leaves smooth, berries 3 Ye, THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. : small. The Scuppernong, derived from the Cordifolia, attains a prodi- gious developement, one stock covering one-third of a hectare, but it is too wild. All these resist the Phylloxera better than our varieties, perhaps because they have not been so long in a state of cultivation. The insect does not extend its ravages beyond the small roots of the American varieties. But while the American vines do extremely well in France, they should not be imported where Phylloxera is unknown, for fear of intro- ducing it, as the speaker is decided in asserting that it originated in America. M. Max Cornu gave a summary of his experiments. He confined himself to substances giving off poisonous vapors, among which sulpho- carbonates gave the best results. M. Bouchet de Bernard, in a communication, advocated grafting French vines on American stocks, thus obtaining good vines and roots capable of resisting the attacks of the Phylloxera. M. Leissoniere sup- ported these ideas, asserting the positive inferiority of the American vines. M. Terrel de Chénes stated that during five or six weeks the Phylloxera left its subterranean abode and crawled up the stock, hiding under the bark six inches above the ground. M. Douysset told how well the American vines grew at Roquemaure. And the session terminated with a communication from M. Petit, of Nimes, who lauded the value of coal- tar against the Phylloxera. At 8 o’clock, 29th October, the members assembled at Comedy Square, to visit the field of Las Sorres, and view with their own eyes the results spoken of by M. Marés. The experimental field should give some consolation to our brethren of the South, for the squares of green vines — in the middle of general desolation show that the genius of man may triumph over the Phylloxera, as it already has over the Oidium. | The cellar of Saporta, belonging to M. Vialla, was visited, and the excursion terminated at the vineyard of M. Gaston Bazille, near Lattes. His yards join others not yet treated for the Phylloxera, and we can hardly describe the extraordinary difference in the vines. Here they are digging up the stocks to throw away ; there they are covered with leaves and vigorous branches. A part were treated with cow-urine and calcium sulphate, a part with urine alone. In another place, submersion has been tried with success, and new ditches are now being dug. In the session of October 30, M. Lichtenstein continued an essay by M. Roessler, delegate of the Austrian government. In his country the THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 39 grape-growers believe the Phylloxera came from America. They are opposed to destroying the vines, and believe in studying the insect and fighting it with manure and phosphates, ammonia, and potash. This treatment succeeds in porous soils, and to obtain this porosity the learned delegate had made use of dynamite, raising the ground thus from a great depth without injuring the vines. He then puts some chalk and phos- phorus at the foot of the stock and irngates. on 158 THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST: sions ; sides and base margined, ‘margin reflexed ; elytra less glossy than the rest of the body, minutely, but not conspicuously, punctured. _ [Belongs to the family Malachiida.| f254.] V.—HYMENOPTERA. _ FAMILY CIMBICIDA, * S54. CIMBEX FEMORATA Linn.—Length of body to lines ; expansion of wings 21 lines. A single specimen taken in Lat. 65°. 2. Body very black, hairy. Antennz yellow, brown at the base; legs blue-black ; tarsi yellow.;- wings hyaline with yellow nervures, brown at the tip, with a brown cloud in the middle areolet adjoining the costa. 352, TRICHIOSOMA TRIANGULUM X7rby.—Length of body 9 lines. A single specimen taken in Lat. 65°. Another was also sent me from ‘Canada by Dr. Bigsby. ! | 4 [255-] Body black, shining, covered with soft and woolly whitish hairs, punctured more or less. ea, excluding the mandibles, depressed, orbicular, as wide as the trunk ; ‘mandibles crossed, very sharp, ‘black ; upper lip subpentagonal, flat with a longitidinal elevation in the: thidlile, hairs on this part black ; anterior margin of the nose wavy, ematginate in the middle ; antennae with,the fourth, fifth, and sixth joints testaceous ; three Ne behind the antennae arranged in-a triangle ; eyes oval, pro- minent ; vertex square, marked out by a ridge on each side; trunk subglobose ; prothorax with a longitudinal furrow ; thighs Uhl coxae- black-blue ; ; under a ‘strong magnifier beautifully nd most minutely reticulated, which gives them a silky lustre ; the rest of the leg is testa- ceous ; the two posterior pair of thighs are thicker than the others and ened. at the apex with a shoft: tooth ‘on*each side, between which is a cavity to receive the shank when folded; tarsi with a sucker underneath at the apex of the four first joints ; mee testaceous with piceous ner- vures, and a cloud ,at the tip ; abdomen ferruginous with a dorsa - triangular black spot, extending from the base towards the apex, but not entering the last segment ;_ the basilar ventral segments are spotted with _ brown. [Found i in esate na Galanin. | it 353. TRICHIOSOMA LucoruM Linn.—Length of body 7 lines ; expan- sion of wings 15 lines. A single specimen taken in Lat. 65°. ee -- Ne ae THE ‘CANADIAN ‘ENTOMOLOGIST. 159 Body black with a very slight geneous tint ;’ glossy, hairy with ciner- ascent hairs, those of the trunk long. Head ‘orbicular, scarcely so wide as the trunk; upper lip small, convex, orbicular, punctured ; antennae black ; wings subhyaline with a cloud at the tip; nervures some piceous and others rufous ; thighs black with a very slight tint of. blue; posterior pair armed with a tooth ; abdomen short, subovate, black, covered more or less with short Peoihbent down ; black above, underneath reddish at the tail. [256.] FAMILY TENTHREDINIDA. 354. ALLANTUS LEUCOSTOMA Kirby.—Length of body 6 lines. One specimen taken in Lat. 65°. Body narrow, black, glossy, without hairs.. Head scarcely so wide as the trunk, wedge-shaped ; palpi, suborbicular upper lip, emarginate nose, and base of the mandibles, white; apex of the latter rufous; antennae a little shorter than the trunk, nine-jointed, with the third joint longer than any of the others; neck constricted; tegulae testaceous; wings sub- hyaline with piceous nervures; legs yellow, with the apex of the tibiae and the whole of the tarsi of the posterior legs, black ; abdomen linear, acute at the anus. This species comes near A//antus ater, but the mandibles are rufous at the apex ; the palpi are whiter ; and the legs of a different colour. FAMILY. SIRICID. 355. SIREX BIZONATUS S¢ephens.—Length of body 18 lines; expan- sion of wings 27 lines. © an in Lat. 65° and in the journey from New York. [257-] Body very ‘black, covered with innumerable punctures from each of which proceeds‘a black upright hair. Head narrower than the trunk; mandibles incumbent ; palpi rufo-piceous ; antennae as long as the en yellow ; behind Ut eye is a large oval yellow eye-like spot | > ‘perfectly naked and smooth ;. legs and tips. of. the thighs yellow ; wings yellowish with dark nervures ; ‘ abdomen with the ‘sece nd, seventh and . eighth. segments: luteous ; anal mucro linear, yellow, terminating ina point ; ovipositor black. The specimens of this species, which Mr. Stephens: found near Lon- don, might probably have been imported in fir timber from Canada. 160 THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. ee DESCRIPTION, OF A NEW SPECIES OF ANNAPHILA FROM CALIFORNIA. BY LEON F. HARVEY, M. D., BUFFALO, N. Y. Annaphila immerens, n. s. This is perhaps the slightest species of the genus yet known. The blackish gray fore wings show the median line distinctly ; thet. p. line is incepted nearer the apex than usual, denticulate, slightly rounded opposite the cell, and unusually strongly inflected below the black mark, which denotes the reniform spot. The orbicular is a black dot. The t. p. line is bordered outwardly with a pale shade. Hind wings deep orange yellow, without dot or median line ; the latter obsoletely indicated at internal margin. A very narrow terminal black line, inwardly dentate above submedian fold ; fringes fuscous. Beneath orange yellow, immacu- late, with narrow even blackish edging and fuscous fringes. On primaries costal traces of a transverse line. Body blackish fuscous. Exp.20m.m. Had. California. BOOK NOTICES. The Butterflies of North America, by W. H. Edwards, second series, part 3. The third part of the second series of this superb work has reached us since our last issue. It contains five magnificent plates, figuring Papilio zoliacon, Argynnis Meadii, Apatura celtis, with drawings of the egg and of the larva inits various stages ; Chionobas gigas and Californica, and Lycena regia and heteronea, with accomponying descriptions and much interesting information regarding the habits of the species. Description of a new Crustacean from the Water Lime Group at Buffalo, by Aug. R. Grote and W. H. Pitt. We have received advanced sheets of this paper, accompanied by an excellent photograph of the interesting object of which it treats. Both will appear in No. 1, Vo!..3 of the Bulletin of the Buffalo Society of Natural £ ww nces. Che Canadian Entomalogist. VOL. Vil. LONDON, ONT., SEPTEMBER, 1875. No. 9. NOTES UPON SOME BUTTERFLY EGGS AND LARVA, BY THEODORE L. MEAD, NEW YORK. During the past month (July) I have endeavored to obtain the eggs and larvee of some of the butterflies common near this place (Hunter), in the Catskill Mountains, and have met with considerable success. The most interesting discovery was that of the food plant of Phyciodes tharos, which had baffled all my endeavors for the past four or five years, during which time Mr. Edwards and myself have tried a great number of plants without avail. Once, indeed, as has been recorded in a previous volume, we obtained a number of eggs from females enclosed in a glass jar with grass, but the larve refused to feed and died. This summer, remembering that the congeneric zycfecs and Harrisit feed on Composite, I prepared a large box by partly filling it with earth and transplanting into this small specimens of all the common Com- posite I could lay my hands upon. The box was covered with gauze and about adozen 2 Phyciodes marcia and tharos introduced. In a few days I examined the leaves and found six patches of eggs upon one of the plants, the number of eggs in a patch varying from twenty to about one hundred and fifty. The plant proved to bea species of Aster, very com- mon here in wet places and by the roadside ; no specimens are in bloom as yet (Aug. 2nd), but from the leaves J think it will prove to be Aster Nove-Anglie. No eggs were found on any of the other plants. After finding these, I transferred the females of marcia which still remained alive to a smaller box with living food-plants; these have now laid several more large patches of eggs. On the 31st of July I succeeded in finding a brood of young cater-— pillars upon a plant of this Aster growing in a damp meadow. ‘The larvee feed upon the under side of the leaf in the same way as those of nycteis, leaving the upper surface untouched. Those of the first moult 162 THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. are merely hairy, in the second moult the spines are already distinctly seen. Around one cluster of the larve a green spider had drawn his net and taken up his abode among them, no doubt finding it very convenient to have his prey within such easy reach. Probably the ravages of spiders are more destructive to this species than almost any other cause, since the eggs are deposited near the ground, in places where spiders are always very numerous. Mr. Edwards also has females of P. marcia set for eggs, and hopes to determine the relationship, if any, between this species and ¢haros. In obtaining eggs of Limenitis arthemis 1 have also been very successful, partly, I think, on account of a method of keeping the parent butterflies in good health and spirits, devised some years ago, and which has given very satisfactory results. A notch is cut in the side of any empty wooden box, through whicha branch of willow or other appropriate food-plant is passed, care being taken to select a leafy spray so as to partially fill the box with foliage ; it is then covered with gauze, tacked fast-on one side and part way on the adjoining sides, that on the fourth side being held down by a piece of wood fastened to the remaining flap of gauze. This renders easy the examination of the contents at any time. Now a saucer of raw dried apples, sugared and partly filled with water, is put in and the cage is com- plete. Butterflies like Z. arthemis will live in such a vivarium for two weeks and more after their capture, and appear to enjoy the food provided immensely, laying many more eggs than if enclosed in a bag and allowed to perish of hunger and thirst. I have often captured specimens and dropped them in upon the pile of dried apples; instead of fluttering about and endeavoring to escape, they instantiy unrolled their tongues and feasted for several minutes upon the repast prepared for them, without a motion of the wings. So far,.my fifteen females of Z. arthemis have laid a very large number of eggs, probably over five hundred, and many of them are still alive. The butterflies at first observe their usual custom of depositing the eggs upon the tips of the leaves, but become reckless after a while’ and lay them anywhere. I counted considerably over one hundred upon the cloth covering the box. I had the rare good fortune to catch also a female of Z. prosertina, which has laid 3: eggs. 4 a b THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST, 163 By next summer Mr. Edwards and myself hope to settle the question as to the dimorphism of Z. arthemis, by rearing the caterpillars from these eggs ; as about one-twentieth of the specimens seen are proserpina, if we are reasonably successful in carrying them through the winter, we are sure to obtain both forms from each kind of parent, if this is really a case of dimorphism. Two years ago I captured a specimen here, intermediate in marking between arthemis and fproserpina, and this year I have taken another, but these varieties are exceedingly rare. The period between the laying and hatching of the egg is about seven days; the young larva, as has been observed with other species of Limenitis, makes its way to the tip of the leaf and there eats on both sides of the midrib, usually resting on the projecting end of this. On my box I notice that where two larve are hatched upon one leaf, the second comer constructs a narrow perch for himself from the side of the leaf, and rests upon it. ‘These perches are nearly a quarter of an inch long and about one-fiftieth of an inch in diameter ; they are irregularly cylindrical, and composed of frass and small bits of the leaf, fastened together and covered with grayish silk. Besides these eggs I have many of Satyrus nephele, and obtained a few of a small species of JVzsoniades. ‘The parent was too much battered and broken to be surely identified, but I believe it to be Zuctiius. The eggs were deposited on willow; they are oval and have ten strongly projecting upright ribs, these and the space between them being marked with transverse raised lines. In color the eggs are yellow, soon changing to claret-red. The young larva, soon after hatching, eats a narrow slit from the edge of the leaf inward, soon turning at an angle, and then the flap of leaf is bent over and fastened with silken cables so as to afford shelter to the caterpillar. I have sometimes found, in previous seasons, half grown larvee of some Hesperian on the poplars and willows here, hiding between two leaves lightly fastened together, and probably this is the habit of the species in question as it grows up. SS PIERIS RAPA.—This troublesome pest to the cabbage grower is rapidly spreading westward. During the past month (August) it has appeared in considerable nunrbers in this neighbourhood (London, Ont.,) and is fast becoming one of our commonest butterflies. | Already reports are coming in from all quarters of damage done by the larvae. We hope its little parasite, Pteromalus puparum. will soon follow in its wake.—Eb. C. E. 164 THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. THE EFFECT OF THE GLACIAL EPOCH UPON THE DIS: TRIBUTION OF INSECTS IN NORTH AMERICA. BY AUG. R. GROTE, A. M. (Read before the American Association for the Advancement of Science, at Detroit, Aug. roth.) From the condition of an hypothesis the glacial epoch has been elevated into that of a theory by the explanations it has afforded to a certain class of geological phenomena. ‘The present paper endeavors to show that certain zoological facts are consistent with the presence, during past times, of a vast progressive field of ice, which, in its movement from north to south, gradually extended over large portions of the North American continent. ‘These facts, in the present instance, are furnished by a study of our Lepidoptera, or certain kinds of butterflies and moths now inhabiting the United States and adjacent territories. Before pro- ceeding with the subject, a brief statement of phenomena, assumed to have attended the advent of the glacial epoch, is necessary. At the close of the Tertiary, the temperature of the earth’s surface underwent a gradual change by a continuous loss of heat. The winters became longer, the summers shorter. The tops of granitic mountains in the east and west of the North American continent, now in summer time bare of snow and harboring a s¢anty flora and fauna, became, summer and winter, covered with congealed deposits. In time the mountain snows consolidated into glacial ice, which flowed down the ravines into the valleys. Meanwhile the northern regions of the continent, which may have inaugurated, submitted extendedly to the same phenomena. Glacial ice, first made on elevations, finally formed at, and poured over, lower levels. Glacial streams finally united to form an icy sea, whose frozen waters slowly plowed the surface of the rocks, and whose waves, in their movement from north to south, absorbed the local glacial streams in their course, and extended over all physical barriers into the Southern States and down the valley of the Mississippi. Before this frozen deluge the animals must always have retreated. The existing insects of the Pliocene must, in submitting to the change of climate which accompanied the advance of the glacier, have quitted their haunts with reluctance, and undergone a severe struggle for existence, no matter how gradually they THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 165 had been prepared for the encounter. We may expect that multitudes of specific forms ultimately perished, of whose remains no traces have been preserved. Such being a brief statement of the outlines of the opening of the glacial epoch, we turn to some facts offered by a study of certain of our existing species of butterflies and moths. The tops of the White Mountains and the ranges of mountain elevations in Colorado, offer us particular kinds of insects, living in an isolated manner at the present day and confined to their respective localities. In order to find insects like them we have to explore the plains of Labrador and the northern portion of the North American continent, in regions offering analogous conditions of climate to those obtaining on the summits of these mountains. The genera Oecnes and Brenthis among the Butterflies, and Azarfa and Agrotis among the Moths are represented by the same or similar species in all of the above mentioned localities. In the case of the White Mountain butterfly, Oeneis semidea, we have a form sustaining itself on a very limited Alpine area on the top of Mount Washington.* Although there is some doubt that precisely the same form of Oemeis has been discovered in Colorado, the fact remains that Oeveis butterflies exceedingly like it, though registered by us under different specific names, live in Labrador and Colorado. Whether the White Mountain butterfly, Oevezs semidea, be, as suspected by Lederer, a modification of some of the Labradorian forms of the genus, or not, the geographical distribution which its genus enjoys cannot be meaningless. ‘The question comes up, with regard to the White Mountain butterfly, as to the manner in which this species of Odeneis attained its present restricted geographical area—How did the White Mountain butterfly get up the White Mountains? And it is this question that I am disposed to answer by the action attendant on the decline of the glacial epoch. I have before briefly outlined the phenomena attendant on the advance of the ice-sheet, and I now dwell for a moment on the action which must equally be presumed to have accompanied its retirement. Many of the * See Mr. Scudders article in the ‘‘Geology of New Hampshire,” 1, 342. Mr. Scudder first pointed out the existence of Alpine and sub-Alpine faunal belts on Mount Washington, and interestingly remarks, ‘‘that if the summit of Mount Washington were somewhat less than two thousand feet higher, it would reach the limit of perpetual snow.” 166 THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. features of its advance were repeated, in reverse order, on the subsidence of the main ice-sheet or glacial sea. The local glaciers appeared again, separate from the main body of ice, and filled the valleys and the moun- tain ravines, thus running at variance with the main body of the glacier, being determined by local topograpliy. A reversal of the temperature shortened the winters and lengthened the summers. _Ice-loving insects, such as our White Mountain butterfly, hung on the outskirts of the main ice-sheet, where they found their fitting conditions of temperature and food. The main ice-sheet had pushed them insensibly before it, and during the continuance of the glacial epoch, the geographical distribution of the genus Oeneis had been changed from a high northern region to one which may well have included portions of the Southern States. And, on its decline, the ice-sheet drew them back again after itself by easy stages ; yet not all of them. Some of these butterflies strayed by the way, delayed by the physical nature of the country and destined to plant colonies apart from their companions. When the main ice-sheet left the foot of the White Mountains, on its long march back to the pole, where it now seems to rest, some of these wayward, flitting, Oeve’s butterflies were left behind. These had strayed up behind the Zoca/ glaciers on Mount Washington and so became separate from the main body of their companions, which latter journeyed northward, following the course of the retirement of the main ice-sheet. They had found in elevation their congenial climate, and they have followed this gradually to the top of the mountain, which they have now attained and from which they cannot now retreat. Far off in Labra- dor the descendants of their ancestral companions fly over wide stretches of country. while they appear to be in prison on the top of a mountain. I conceive that in this way the mountains may generally have secured their alpine animals, ‘The glacial epoch cannot strictly be said to have expired. It exists even now for high levels above the sea, while the Esquimaux finds it yet enduring in the far north. | Had other conditions been favorable, we might now find Arctic man living on snow-capped mountains within the Temperate zone. At a height of from 5,606 to 6,200 feet above the level of the sea, and a mean temperature of about 48 degrees during a short summer, the White Mountain butterflies ( Oeneis semidea) yet enjoy a climate like that of Labra- dor within the limits of New Hampshire. And in the case of the moths an analogous state of things exists. The species Avarta melanopa is found on Mount Washington, the Rocky Mountains and Labrador. Agvrotis islandica is found in Iceland, Labrador, the White Mountains, and, per- THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 167 haps, in Colorado. As on islands in the air, these insects have been left by the retiring of the ice-flood during the opening of the Quarternary. On inferior elevations, as on Mount Katahdin, in Maine, where we now find no Oenezs butterflies, these may formerly have existed, succumb- ing to a climate gradually increasing in warmth from which they had no escape; while the original colonization, in the several instances, must have always greatly depended upon local topography. In conclusion, I have briefly endeavored to show, that the present distribution of certain insects may have been brought about by the phe- nomena attendant on the glacial epoch. The discussion of matters connected with this theoretic period of the earth’s history still, as it now appears, brings out more and more clearly the conception of its actuality. I hope that my-present statements may draw the attention of our zoolo- gists more to the matter, seeing that we have in our own country fields for its full exploration. And I permit myself to entertain the belief that testimony as to the former existence of a long and widely spread winter © of the years, is offered in evidence through the frail, brown, Oevezs butterflies that live on the tops of the mountains. wm me een Se ee METHODS. OF. SUBDUING INSECTS, INJURIOUS, TO AGRICULTURE. BY JOHN L. LECONTE, M. D., PHILADELPHIA. (kead before the American Association for the Advancement of Science, at Detroit, Aug. roth.) In accordance with the predictions made at the time of its first appearance in the immediate Mississippi Valley, the Colorado potato beetle continues to extend its area of distribution. It has during the last and present seasons reached the Atlantic coast of the Middle States, and is preparing an invasion in mass of the maritime parts of New England, which will soon be overrun with the same ease with which it has con- quered the Western and Middle States. Meanwhile the farmers are anxiously inquiring for means of destroying the invader. Materials destructive to the insects and said not to be injurious to the plant or the soil, have been recommended almost without number; but with the 168 THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. exception of Paris green, they have been either very insufficiently tried or found inoperative. That compound of arsenic and copper therefore remains naturally the favorite, notwithstanding its dangerous qualities and the possible deleterious effect it may produce on the fields after long use. Entomologists and other scientific men are often asked: “ Why do you not give us another remedy against this destructive insect? Are you baffled with all your boasted progress in learning by the invasion of a wretched little bug?” No, my friends, we are not baffled by the wretched little bug, but in our endeavors to teach you how to dispose of it in such a manner as to protect your crops, we are embarrassed by your own failure to grasp the magnitude of the problem which you have set us to solve. Had you indeed comprehended the warnings given by my lamented friend B. D. Walsh, on the first injurious appearance of the insect, and since repeated by many Entomologists, you would have insisted several years ago that the subject should be investigated with a power of inquiry proportioned to its importance, and you would have received such information as might with proper and well directed industry on your part have prevented much loss. However, I do not wish now to speak of the past ; it is gone and its errors cannot be undone. Let us rather enquire what shall be done in the future. The first thing, then, is to cease calling upon science for a remedy, when science and empiricism have probably already given you many remedies, concerning the application of which I will have a word to say by-and-by. Science can help you and will help you only when you have begun to help yourselves. How, then, can we begin to help ourselves ? I hear you ask. First, then, there should be a scientific commission, selected by competent scientific authority for their merit and not for their political influence. Politicians have had too much control over our agricultural interests, as you all have reason to remember with regret. This commission should be sufficiently large to subdivide the subjects committed to them in such manner as to thoroughly investigate the habits and times of appearance in different districts of the great agricultural pests, the effect upon them of all the cheaper materials which have been or may be judiciously suggested as destroying agents, and the proper times and manner of applying them. ‘The members of the commission should also receive sufficient compensation to warrant them in giving as much _time and labor to this investigation as may be required, even to the THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 169 temporary abandonment, if necessary, of their other scientific or secular pursuits. No such task can be properly performed and completed by the solitary labors of State entomologists underpaid and overburdened with work. Only by association of several such careful observers and investi- gators can a worthy, useful result be obtained for the suppresion of several of the most formidable pests. 2. This information being procured, should be tabulated as far as possible, or at least reduced to a compact form for easy reference and widely published in newspapers and also in pamphlet form. 3. By the distribution of this information and by appeals through the newspapers and agricultural journals, as well as by addresses at meetings of farmers and others interested in agriculture, it must be impressed upon the public mind that all individual efforts for the suppression of these pests are frequently futile. Only combined and consentaneous action over large tracts of country will be effective. - Now, while I am prepared to believe that when these facts are made known to the farmers they will immediately see the importance of the suggestion for unanimous and simultaneous advance upon the enemy, yet without legislative aid it will be quite impossible to secure the organization requisite for an effective onslaught. It will therefore be necessary for the citizens interested to command their representatives, either in State Legislatures or in National Congress, to prepare proper laws for the destruction of these pests at stated times, to be determined and recom- mended by the scientific commission. These laws will be not only cheerfully obeyed by every intelligent farmer, but I know that the farmers’ as a class will be glad to have such laws enacted and enforced with penalties for their neglect. Those disposed to help themselves and each other can only thus be protected against an ignorant or indolent neighbor, whose thriftlessness would otherwise make of his potato patch, his cotton field or his plum orchard a nuisance nursery from which no industry could protect the surrounding farms. Thus, then, the organization necessary for a successful campaign against our insect enemies must be authoritatively demanded by you. Under less free forms of government the plan which I have suggested would probably have long ago been perfected by the rulers. Even the fear of the extension of the Colorado potato beetle to Europe has excited in several countries almost as much discussion and confusion of counsel as an apprehended revolution. 170 THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. —_— The fact is, that these incursions and ravages of hostile insects repre sent a condition of wav. It is only by a quasi-military organization and appropriate weapons suited to the nature of the enemy that they can be conquered. Without recognition of this fact nothing can be done against them, and we must bow our heads and exclaim with the pious Moham medan fatalist, “It is the will of God.” Three subjects yet remain to be considered—the materials to be used, the time of making the attack in force, and the weapons to be employed. 1. The materials may be either vegetable or mineral, or merely human labor intelligently and persistently applied. The latter is the only effective means of contending against some insects, but in all cases it is a necessary adjunct to the remedies used. These remedies are very numerous, and until a careful investigation is made of the large number already suggested, no proper indications can be given except that those least injurious to man should be preferred, even at greater cost of money and labor; and that those which kill the insect by contact with its body are likely to prove more effectual than those which destroy by poisoning its food. It may be here observed that the form of apparatus in these two cases must be quite different. In the latter, any contrivance which will sprinkle a fluid or dust a powder on the exposed or upper surface of the leaves will be sufficient; in the former, in which the poison kills by con- tact with the insect, it must be able to reach the enemy wherever sheltered. 2. The time of attack must naturally be when the enemy is least able to resist. To quote again from the excellent memoir of Motschulsky, “the most effective and at the same time the easiest mode of opposing the developement of the locusts is the crushing out of the young broods when collected in swarms in the place where they are hatched. Con- sequently the most important thing is to know the nesting place of these destructive pests. In order to discover them and to point out the course to be pursued * * it might be well to send skilful persons * * to make the necessary researches, and these, with the assistance of the local authorities, might seek out the places where the insects abound and establish the necessary regulations for their destruction.” (lc. p. 228.) In the case of the cotton moth it is plain that the attack should be made upon the earliest broods, which are said to appear in the extreme southern part of the conntry, and from which the migratory swarms which travel northward are supposed to be developed; also, that the attack must be directed against the caterpillars rather than the perfect insects. > THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. oh | The Colorado potato beetle may also be attacked with greatest success in the larval state. The integuments are then soft, and the appetite more voracious, so that whether the poison by contact or the poison by food be used, it will have a more certain effect than upon the perfect insect, which is protected against the former by the hard chitinous surface and against the latter by preoccupation in reproductive duties. You will be prepared to admit the importance of the recommendation above made, that the times for making the attack should be directed by the scientific commission after full examination of the habits of the insects and the dates of their appearance in their various stages of developement. These dates will vary in different districts, and without a carefully tabulated calendar of the necessary facts, no system of combined effort, such as I believe to be essential, can be planned. The apparatus to be used must of course vary greatly with the habits of the insects to be attacked. In the case of the plum curculio canvas frames propelled on a kind of wheelbarrow, with a ram to concuss the trunk of the tree, is probably the best instrument yet devised. The insect will fall into the net when the tree is struck, and may be easily destroyed when a sufficient mass has been collected. For the cotton moth and the potatoe beetle the apparatus for poisoning the leaves upon which they feed may be any simple sprinkler or dusting box, according as liquid or solid poison is employed. But for direct application to the insect itself, we must use means by which a fine spray will be driven with force sufficient to envelop the whole plant, or the surface of the ground upon which the insects are assembled, in a mist of poisonous liquid. Such an instrument is the atomizer, which has the additional advantage over the sprinkler that it consumes less liquid. The first application of the atomizer for the destruction of insects was made by me several years ago, and in the American Naturalist for August, 1869, I published a short paper recommending its use with certain poisonous liquids for the disin- fection and preservation of insect cabinets. I have seen its frequent use with great success. When the question of locusts became of importance last year, and the Colorado potato beetle began to be very troublesome in the Atlantic States, I spoke with several commercial friends and others about the propriety of making atomizers of large size for the destruction of these pests. In consequence of delay in the measures they thought necessary to command the attention and security of a manufacturer, no progress 1/2 THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. has yet been made for introducing such a contrivance into general use. Meanwhile a small apparatus consisting of an atomizer, a tank of fluid supported on the back, and a pair of bellows fixed at the side of the operator, has been independently introduced by a manufacturing estab- lishment in Philadelphia, and I have been told is somewhat of a favorite. It will*doubtless be useful to a limited extent, and is not patented I believe. ) For small arms, this or a somewhat larger and more complete instru- ment will answer, but in the war against insect pests in which I have endeavored to interest you, we must have heavy ordnance as well as weapons for hand use. Large compound atomizer tubes, with five, ten, twenty, or, in fact, an indefinite number of orifices for producing the spray, can be made, connected with large tanks of fluid and worked by a powerful current of air from a revolving fan, driven by man, horse or steam power, according to the size of the instrument. When of sufficiently large size, the machine can be mounted on wheels and _ transported wherever it would be required for use. | Before such instruments as these an invading army of caterpillars, or even a recently hatched swarm of locusts, would be annihilated. A comparatively small number of men would be required to work a battery of this kind of field artillery, and it would be found immensely effective. The organization recommended can be effected only by the strong appeal of the people where agricultural interests dominate, for proper instruction from the government and proper protection by legislative power. We have game laws to protect our useful wild animals; thistle laws to guard against extension of noxious weeds. Why not have insect laws for destruction of agricultural pests ? Farmers of the West, are you willing to exert yourselves to procure this result? ‘The prize is a rich one—it is no less than immunity from an annual destruction of property quadruple or sextuple that of the great Chicago conflagration. ON A CANADIAN SPECIES OF AGROTIS. BY A. R. GROTE, BUFFALO, N. Y. Mr. George Norman has sent me specimens of a species of Agrotis allied to ‘essel/ata, which were taken at Orillia. I propose to call the species Agrotis versipellis. The male antennae are brush-like, eyes naked, ak THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST, LAS all the tibiae spinose. The thorax and tegulae are dark brown; collar with a blackish shade in front, below which it is ashen. Head and tips of palpi grayish brown; 2nd palpal joint outwardly blackish. Fore wings blackish brown; lines geminate, distinct, with pale included shades. Median vein narrowly striped with white. A whitish shade over subcostal nervure. Claviform rather small, distinctly black-edged. Stigmata smaller than in ¢esse//ata, grayish brown, the cell between them, and before the ovate orbicular, blackish. | Median space of a clearer brown below the median vein. Course of the median lines much like ZesseH/afa ;_ the t. p. a little more exserted opposite the median nervules. Subterminal line a nearly straight gray shade, thus differmg decidedly from ‘/esse//ata. Hind wings blackish fuscous, a little paler at base, with paler fringes and reflection of the discal lunule from beneath, where both wings are black- ish fuscous and show a faint common line. /xpanse 30 m. m. This is a handsome species and seems to be easily distinguished from its ally by the white median vein. It seems intermediate between /essed/ata and Azdingsiana. I have been shown in Detroit, by Mr. J. A. Lintner and Mr. O.S. Westcott, specimens of an Agrotis new to me, but which I thought might prove the true ode/iscoides of Gueneé, from my memory of his description. This is in so far interesting, as I have been disposed, in the absence of another species, to consider sexatélis as the species intended by Gueneé. ON CERTAIN SPECIES OF MOTHS FROM FLORIDA. BY A. R. GROTE, BUFFALO, N. Y. The following species were collected by Mr. Schwarz and Mr. Bela Hubbard, of the Detroit Scientific Association, among other most valuable scientific material, obtained during a recent visit to Florida. Megathymus yuccae (Bdy. & Lec.) Scudd. The eyes are large and naked ; caputal squamation of mixed flattened scales and hair. I cannot find any ocelli. The cylindrical, scaled antennz are capitate, without terminal inflection or heoklet. The tibiz and tarsi are strongly spinose ; hind and middle tibize with terminal claw. I regard the insect as belonging to the Castnians, where it is placed by Walker. The ornamentation mimics the Hesperians. Haulover, Fla., March 8. 174 THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. Aegeria floridensis, n. S. g. Seems to belong to a new structural groap, for which I propose the name Pyrrhotaenia. The antenne are heavy, lengthily pilose, brush- like. The naked eyes are banded black and golden, narrowed superiorly. The ocelli are large. The head is narrow, prominent ; palpi curved, long, ascending, free from the front; maxilla moderate. Anterior ‘wings scaled, very narrow, widening terminally at outer third, blackish violaceous. The narrow portion of the wing is medially orange red, interrupted by the ground color at beyond the disc. | Beyond the interruption the inter- spaces are orange red for a short space ;_ the internal margin to terminal third is narrowly streaked with orange red. Beneath largely shaded with orange ;_ the violaceous terminal portion of the wing interspaceally rayed with orange. Hind wings pellucid, with narrow orange costal border and blackish fringes. _ Head covered with broad blackish violaceous scales antennz violaceous. Palpi and collar orange. Legs violaceous, marked with orange ;_ hind tibiz twice broadly banded with orange. Abdomen blackish cyaneous, with a concolorous terminal tuft containing a few white scales; two terminal segments banded with orange, fourth from the tip orange banded, this color extending beneath. Lixpanse of fore wing,6m.m. Total length of body, 9 m. m. Enterprise, Fla., May 29. Cosmosoma omphale Hiubn. Haulover, Fla., March 9. Syntomeida ipomacae Harris. The discal dot is sometimes obsolete on the fore wings above. Enterprise, Fla., May 28. Didasys, n. g. A form allied to the Cuban Burtia. The abdomen in the male pro- vided with two lateral, elongate, pilose, blackish terminal tufts, one on each side, arising from the genital pieces, which latter are prominent, exceeding the anus, when closed forming a whitish {J beneath, from the color of the scales. The large ocelli are removed from the somewhat narrowed, naked eyes. The plumose # antenne are thickly furnished with lengthy setose pectinations. Palpi moderate, pointed, exceeding the front. Shape of the wings as is usualin the group. The median fold of Cosmosoma is absent. natin = THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 175 Didasys Belae,n. Ss. Vertex, collar, base of the primaries and palpi orange; terminal palpal joints blackish. Antennae black; legs blackish, streaked with whitish and with whitish fore coxe. Abdomen above orange scarlet, terminal segments with short lateral fluffy tuftlets, the terminal ones touched with black. Thorax and patagia black, neatly lined with pale. Abdomen beneath orange at base, the terminal portion whitish with blackish incisures.. Fore wings pellucid ; veins black marked. —R. VASHAN ROoGFRS. - THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 219 Mr. J. M. Grant, of Crowelton, Buffalo, W. Nebraska, desires to arrange some exchanges with Entomologists in Ontario or Quebec. Par- ties desiring to exchange will please write him. Mr. T. G. Schanpp, 25 Broadway, Brooklyn, E. D., N. Y., has many duplicates in Coleoptera from New York, Texas, Louisiana, Florida, &c., which he desires to exchange for specimens from the north ; collects only in Cicindelidz and Carabide. | Mr. W. V. Andrews, 36 Boerum Place, Brooklyn, N. Y., has a num- ber of European, Australian and New Zealand Coleoptera, which he wishes to exchange for species purely Canadian or Arctic. Mr. George P. Cooper, of Topeka, Kansas, has a large number of Western insects, which he would be glad to exchange for Canadian insects BOOK NOTICES. Remarks on Canker Worms and Description of a New Genus of Phalaenide, by Chas. V. Riley, 8vo., 8 pp., with eight wood-cuts. Through the kindness of the author we have been supplied with an advanced copy of the above paper, in which the many points of difference between vervafa and pometaria are clearly pointed out ; the differences in structure being sufficiently great to require, in the author’s opinion, the eréction of a new genus for verzata. The Lepidopterist’s Calendar, by Joseph Merrin, second edition, price | 38. 6d., published by H. Marsden, Gloucester, England. ‘This is an excellent little work of 250 pages, giving the time when the various species of British Lepidoptera appear in the egg, larval, pupal and imago states, with the food plant and habitat, all thoroughly worked up to the - present time. Mr. Marsden has appointed Mr. W. V. Andrews. 36 Boerum Place, Brooklyn, N. Y., as his American agent for the sale of this work. : Bulletin of the Buffalo Society of Natural Sciences, Vol. iii,’ No. 1. Contains Description of a New Crustacean, already referred to in our 220 THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. August No.; a paper on Texan Lepidoptera, by Dr. Leon F. Harvey ; on New species of Eusarcus and Pterygotus, by A. R. Grote and W: H. Pitt, and Part II of Synopsis of Fungi of the United States, by M. C. Cooke, M. A. The Structure and Transformations of Awmacus atala, by Samuel H. Scudder, 4to, 8 pp., with one excellent lithographic plate, from the - Memoirs Bost. Soc. Nat. Hist. Notice of the Butterflies and Orthoptera collected by Geo. M. Dawson, as Naturalist of the B. N. A. Boundary Commission, 8vo, pp. 5, by Samuel H. Scudder. We tender the author our sincere thanks for copies of the above valuable papers. ~The Scientific Monthly—a magazine devoted to the Natural Sciences ; E. H. Fitch, Editor end Proprietor, Toledo, Ohio, Vol. 1, No. 1. ‘This new claimant for public favor is an 8vo journal of 48 pages (the first number, owing to an accident, is only 40 pages). It contains several papers of interest to the Naturalist, among which we would especially mention ‘First Impressions of the Bird Fauna of California, by Prof. Robert Ridgeway.” The subscription price is $3 a year in advance, or 45 cts. a number. The Cincinnatti Quarterly Journal of Science, Vol. II, No. 4, October, 1875. The October number of this valuable quarterly contains two papers on Entomology, one on the Tineina of Colorado, by our esteemed friend and contributor, V. T. Chambers, of Covington, Kentucky ;_ the other on Lepidopterous Larvae, by A. G. Weatherby. Mr Chambers 1s at present residing in Colorado, and his paper gives the results of personal observations on the Tineina of Colorado, many of which have been taken at altitudes of from 7,000 to 11,500 feet. In it he gives descriptions of twenty-two new species, besides references to others already described. These were all captured or bred from July 20th to Sept. 1st. Among others, Mr. Chambers has taken in this far distant locality G@cophora boreasclla, first described from specimens sent to him from London, Ont., by the Editor of this journal, end Argyresthia goedastella, hitherto known: in this country only from specimens captured at Quebec by M. Belanger, thus proving a very wide range for these tiny creatures. CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGiIsT.-—Having had several of the earlier num- bers of our journal reprinted, including index for Vol. I, we are now -prepared to furnish full sets of our ENromMoLoaist, or any back numbers required. s ieee ae pee Che Canadian Entomologist. Wists Vil. LONDON, ONT., DECEMBER, 1875. No. 12 LEPIDOPTEROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS. BY A. R. GROTE, A. M., BUFFALO, N. Y. Director of the Museum, Buffalo Society Natural Sciences. Nola ovilla, n. s. g. A-small frail form with ciliate antennz, no ocelli, and long, dependent palpi, their second joint thickly squamous. Fore- wings grayish white, with the inner line black, fine, angulated. Outer line denticulate, followed by a pure white shade. A pure white shade in the place of the subterminal. Hind wings dusty white. Beneath the fore wings are pale fuscous, immaculate ; hind wings whitish with a discal dot. Expanse 16 m.m. Canada, Mr. Saunders. This species differs decidedly from the N. Am. species described by Prof. Zeller; I do not find descriptions of N. Am. species in any other author. Dilophonota meriane Grote. According to my correspondent, Mr. Meske, this species, formerly known from Cuba and Mexico, has been found in Texas by a collector and examples reared from larve. It must therefore be included in the List of our Sphingide. Apatela tritona (Hiibn.) Zutr., 107, 108. Hubner’s figure has the t. p. line more irregular and the hind wings more yellowish than the form we consider as intended. A. grisea, differs by the white hind wings, and is, Zerhaps, redescribed as pudorata by Mr. Morrison in the Annals of the N. Y. Lyceum. No comparison with grisea is made of his new species by Mr. Morrison. Specimens of ¢ritona show the stigmata, and the inner edge of the reniform is perhaps included with the median shade in Hiibner’s figure. It is on a line with it in the specimens, which have also the small orbicular very faintly outlined and which latter may be indicated by the two dots in Hiibner’s figure. On the whole, I cannot see that Gueneé’s description of ¢rztona differs from 222 t THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. my material, and it is not ciear that Mr. Morrison has identified a species more nearly resembling Hiibner’s figure than the ordinary identification of “¢ritona. Apatela grisea (Walk). I have examined Mr. Walker’s types in the British Museum, and I made the note: Fore wings like ¢r:tona,; hind wings white. Professor Bélanger sent me a species which I considered to be this of Walker’s. It now appears to me that Mr. Morrison has altered my determination and described the moth as a new species. I think that, until Mr. Walker’s species is more satisfactorily identified, my own determinajion should not be interfered with. I have since identified several of the species marked unknown to me. in the “List” of 1874. A shorter compilation of the ‘“ List” is now published. Itis no proof that the species is unknown now, that it was at that time. For instance, I have since identified Schinza gracilenta, and it seems to me that it is the same as oleazgina Morr.; in my specimen the subterminal space is a little darker than terminal, as somewhat exag- geratedly shown in Hiibner’s figure ; there is a faint discal discoloration beneath and traces of a subterminal line; the hind wings above are hardly “rosy” along exterior border. My specimen is undoubtedly the same species as Mr. Morrison’s, and also came from my old school-friend Mr. Graef. I come to the conclusion that oleagina is not a var., but a synonym of graczlenta. Apatela dentata, n. s. ¢. This is allied to ¢itona and grisea, but is a smaller species wanting all the black dashes. The ground color is blackish, shaded over with whitish. The lines black, single, denticulate. The claviform is indicated by a slight black mark. Orbicular obsolete. Reniform whitish, rounded, with its outward edge black-lined and shaded. T. a. line running in a little on median vein. ‘TT. p. line inaugurated above the reniform, running well outwardly, denticulate throughout its length. Sub- terminal line hardly apparent ; a blackish shade over median nervules on the gray terminal space. Fringes gray preceded by blackish interspaceal markings. Hind wings fuscous, lighter towards the base, with indistinct line. Beneath much paler, irrorate,; without discal marks and with a common shaded line. Expanse 32 m. m. Quebec, Mr. Bowles. ; } ) THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 223 Mamestra Goodelli, n. s. @. Resembles at first sight Hadena mischoides, but the eyes are hairy, size smaller, and color more brownish. Fore wings shiny reddish brown, with the terminal space and costal region shaded with greenish. Collar greenish, edged with black. Thorax reddish with the tegulae dark margined. ‘Transverse lines geminate, rather indistinct, shghtly lunulate; t. p. improminently exserted. Orbicular small; reniform moderate, ill-defined, outwardly shaded with whitish. Subterminal line improminent ; no W-mark. Hind wings fuscous with pale fringes ; beneath with terminal space of primaries pale. A double exterior shading and discal point on secondaries ; primaries fuscous, with the commencement of an angulated exterior line indicated on costal region and obscure discal point. Above the pale pre-apical costal points are noticeable. Axpfanse 30 m. m. Amherst, Mass.; from Mr. L. W. Goodell, after whom I name the species, and numbered 291. The greenish or olive tintings of this species are difficult to localize and are very slight. Dianthoecia lustralis, n. s. 2. Resembles Mamestra legitima,; allied to Dianthoecia pensilis. Lilac gray, the median space shaded with light reddish below median vein and about reniform. Median shade blackish, diffuse. Lines improminent, geminate, the pale included spaces noticeable ; t. a. line outwardly exserted, narrowing the median space. Claviform marked by a short black oblique dash. Orbicular small, pale, distinct, rounded. Reniform narrow, pale, with an interior annulus. _ S. t. line below vein 6 preceded by a carneous shading, and followed by dark scales ; inflected below vein 2. Fringes dark, obscurely cut with pale. Hind wings dark fuscous with paler fringes; the median line from beneath reflected. | Under surface of hind wings paler than above, showing dot and line ; fore wings fuscous with paler terminal space. Collar with a black line. Expanse 30 m. m. Racine (O. Meske). Anarta promulsa. Mamestra promulsa Morr., Ann. N. Y. Lyc., 1875, 97. { ¢. This is rather a large species for the genus, but its characters are those of Azarta, and it is aliied to Anarta nivearia Grote. A good example is in the coilection of the Buffalo Society of Natural Sciences, 29.4 THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. received from Mr. Theo. L. Mead and ticketed ‘‘20, Colorado.” The eyes are hairy; thorax and head shaggily haired without mixture of scales ; head improminent ; abdomen without tufts; size a little larger than Anarta subfuscula Grote, from the same locality, with which species it agrees in the shape of the wings ; the tongue is stout. I suppose the hairy eyes induced the reference to M/amestra, this, with the other char- acters, agreeing in reality with Avarfa. Lysranthoecia Meskeana, 1. s. Fore wings smooth with the terminal space olive green, the median space light purple and the basal brownish. Median lines geminate with white included spaces ; the t. a line straight to median vein, below which it is slightly outwardly rounded; t. p. line sinuate, becoming medially indicated by white dots. Fringes olivaceous. Hind wings black with a band of three light yellow spots; a pale interruption medially along terminal margin ; fringes yellowish. Thorax and head olive; abdomen yellow. Legs marked with reddish. Beneath pale yellow, fore wings with a sub-basal triangulate patch, a discal spot and subterminal band black ; above the spot and band are vinous costal shades. Hind wings with black discal spot and black subterminal band extended along internal margin and basally within the spot; costal region vinous. Sxpanse 24 m.m. Bastrop Co., Texas, from Mr. O. Meske, to whom I dedicate the beautiful species. Fleliothis lupatus, n. s. 2. Fore tibiz with a longer inner and shorter outer terminal claw. Habit of phlogophagus. The entire insect is ochreous, stained with a reddish tint. Fore wings with the t. p. line guttate, black points, touched with white; t. a line dentate. Reniform black with white centre; orbi- cular small, blackish ; median shade deeper colored than the wing; the wing deepens outwardly in tone or becomes more orange. The narrow subterminal space is darker. A terminal series of black dots alternated with orange. Fringes plumbeous, contrasting. Hind wings like fore wings, with pale fringes, a small faint discal mark and fine central line ; similar beneath, where the fore wings show a large exterior and small interior black discal spot and an indication of an exterior black shade line. Mxpanse 28 m.m. Bastrop Co., Texas, Mr. Meske. Tarache binocula, n. s. Allied to cretata, Fore wings yellowish white with a perpendicular THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. FB5 — median yellow stripe which margins, below the median vein, outwardly, a broad subterminal plumbeous black band, running obliquely to costa before the apex and edged outwardly with a yellowish stain. Terminal space cut by a blackish line. Inone specimen the plumbeous band is obsolete and there is nothing on the yellowish white primaries but the perpendicular yellow median stripe, narrowly edged with blackish below median vein, the rounded discal blackish reniform (which in the type is included in the plumbeous color and faintly edged with white) and some yellow apical shadings. Fringes white. Hind wings silvery white with fuscous terminal shade widening at apices. Beneath fore wings fuscous, whitish along costa and internal margin; hind wings white with the costa | sometimes a little touched with fuscous and external margin obsoletely lined. Expanse 21 m.m. Texas, Mr. Belfrage, No. 112. Bastrop.Co., Mr. Meske. It has perhaps been confounded with crefata. -Cretata is milk white ; binocula yellow white, and the coloration of fore wings beneath gives distinguishing characters. The rounded reniform is a noticeable char- acter and allies the moth to candefacta, than which it is a stouter species. Spragueia guttata, n. s. Allied to dama and leo, but strongly differing in the detail of the mark-~ ings. The fringes are orange, touched with black at internal angle opposite the cell (as in dama) and at apices. The wing is broken up into sulphur yellow spots by the black lines and ground color. An orange median fascia extends upwardly to the disc before the yellow, black-circled, round reniform, and extends to apices beyond the spot. Internal margin touched with orange at base. Collar and tegulae orange ; disc of the thorax yellow, marked out by black inner lines to the patagia and with two plumbeous spots. Hind wings blackish ; abdo- men zoned with pale yellow, beneath whitish with orange tip. Beneath the wings are blackish with faint lines ; on primaries the orange fringes are marked with black as on upper surface. xfanse 16 m.m. Bastrop Co., Texas, Mr. Meske. Spragueia fasctatella, n. s. Allied to ¢ortricina Zeller, and similarly sized, differing by the dull ochreous or paler color of the narrow fore wings, which have black fringes, and by the t. p. line being visible and preceded by a shade of a deeper tint than the ground color; thes. t. line is also preceded by a 226 THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. similar shade band. Black dots mark the stigmata; the rounded t. a. line is also followed by a darker shade. Variable in tone and distinctness of the three shade bands. Hind wings and under surface much as in tortricina. ‘Texas, Belfrage, Nos. 125 and 126, July 6, 8. Agrotis turris Grote. Under this name, which I communicated to Mr. Norman before his leaving for Europe, I drew up the description from Canadian specimens (sent me by Mr. Norman), which has since been published -under the determination ‘‘ Cinereomacula Morr.,” in the Proc. of the Phil. Acad. of N. Sciences. I made this alteration in the proofs because Mr. Mor- rison sent me a specimen of /urris as his ‘“‘cinereomacula,” previously imperfectly described by him in the Boston Proceedings. Upon Mr. Morrison’s request I sent him my specimens. On their return I am surprised to find that he declares his “ cinereomacula” to be something different, and returns me my own specimens as Azs types under a vez ms. name of Ais, thus suppressing my own prior designation for the species which I had previously communicated to him and had only abandoned in consequence of his own determination. The species will be known under the above name of ‘urris. / Agrotis mimallonis Grote. I have, through the kindness of my correspondents, been very recently able to compare my types of this species and rujfipennis Grote. The names are synonymous, the latter name having been founded on a speci- men with obliterate ornamentation. Both specimens are from New York, and I had returned Mr. Mead’s type long previously to receiving Mr. Lintner’s. EXPLANATION OF PLATE. The specimens illustrated on the accompanying Photographic Plate were taken at St. Catherines or Orillia by Mr. George Norman, of Cluny Hill, Forres, Scotland, and are interesting since they are mostly types of new species described in these pages. Their discovery is due to the scientific enthusiasm of Mr. Norman, who has spent two years in Canada to the benefit of Entomological knowledge and the pleasure of his North American friends. The following is the explanation of Plate 1 : 1. Parastichtis gentilis (Grote). Male type. THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 22, “J 2. Parastichtis perbellis (Groée). Female type. A second specimen has been since received from London (Mr. Saunders). 3. Parastichtis minuscula (AZorr.). Female. Orillia, Mr. Norman. 4. Litholomia napaea (MJorr.). Orillia. 5. Agrotis friabilis Grote. Type. 6. Agrotis campestris Grote. ‘Type. I am informed by Mr. Morrison that this is Agrotis decolor, Proc. Bost. S. N. H., 1874, 162. This was not readily perceivable from the remarks of Mr. Morrison, who compared his species with geniculata G. & R., whereas campestris is very close to /essellata. A specimen sent to Mr. Morrison after the Boston paper appeared was returned to me as a “var. of dessellata” ; and without nearer determination, I accordingly described it, not agreeing with this determination, and am surprised to find it now stated to be ‘‘ decolor.” 7. Agrotis (Matuta) Catherina Grote. Female type. 8. Agrotis'(Pachnobia) Orilhana Grote. Female type. This I am informed is A. claviformis |. c. This species belongs to Gueneé’s genus Pachnobia. Its short description in the Boston Proc. was additionally unintelligible, since “claviformis” is there. compared to sigmoides, which latter belongs toa different group. g. . ae THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 25D the result, from the view that the inclination to revert is great, that even with the first summer generation, which were the longest exposed to the summer climate, always a portion of the pupae, without artificial means, emerged ¢e/amonides, but another portion marcellus. This last will now become Zelamonides by the application of cold; the first, on the contrary, will wholly or in part revert to the original form Walshiz. One would expect that the second and third generations would revert still more easily, and in greater percentage than the first, because these last had first taken the new form marcellus, but from the experiments so far made can no other conclusion be drawn. ‘To be sure, of the first summer generation, only seven pupae out of sixty-seven over-wintered and emerged ¢e/amonides ; while of the second generation forty out of seventy- six over-wintered ; of the third twenty-nine out of forty-two. But for closer conclusions more extended experiments will be necessary. After the experiments so far had, one might still incline to the suppo- sition that through seasonal-dimorphism the outside influences working directly upon single individuals would force upon them one or the other form. But this is not tenable. That cold does not bring one and heat the other form follows from this, that with a7ax each generation produces both forms. Further, the author often reared the last, or over-wintering generation of /evana in the warmth of a room, and yet always got the winter form. ‘The length of the pupa period does not determine in individual cases the form of the butterfly, or consequently determine whether the winter or summer form shall emerge, but the length of the pupa period is dependent upon the tendency which the growing butterfly has taken in the pupa. As a rule, the two winter generations of avax emerge only after a pupa period lasting from 150 to 270 days, but single cases occur in which the period is no longer than with the summer form (14 days). With Zevana, too, occurs a similar phenomenon, for not only was the winter form forced to a certain degree by artificial warmth during _ the pupa period, but the summer generation produced many reverting forms without the period having been at all protracted. The half way. reverting form forzma was known long before any one thought of pro-_ ducing it artificially by the influence of cold. It appears in midsummer on the wing occasionally. vi r * i If the explanation, then, is correct, the winter form is the primary and the summer form the secondary, and such individuals as embrace either naturally or artificially the winter form are to be considered as examples of atavism. It appears also that the individuals of a species are influenced by climatic change to 936 THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. a variable extent, so that the new form is made permanent sooner in one species than in another. From this there must foilow a variability of the generations concerned, that is, single individuals of the summer genera- tion must differ more widely in markings and coloring than is the case with those of the winter generation. ‘The facts agree with this as regards Zevana, the winter forrn being much more constant than the summer, and in this (frorsa) it is hard to find two individuals exactly alike. So far I follow the paper. After reading it I wrote Dr. Weismann as to the peculiarity noticed by me that while out of doors, in the early spring, Walshit was abundant, and for some weeks the only form of the species to be met, I had_ scarcely ever been able to obtain it by breed- ing, all the over-wintering chrysalids, with one or two exceptions, no matter from which generation, producing ¢elamonides. In the Supple- mentary Notes to Butterflies of N. A., I had given the results of ninety- two over-wintering chrysalids from eggs of many broods of the three forms bred in 1871, and not one Wadshii appeared, while that same spring, 1872, between the 11th and 2oth of April, Mr. Mead, at Coal- _ burgh, had taken sixty-three specimens of Walsfiz, and had taken or seen \ but one ¢elamonides. To this Dr. Weismann replies: “The case of Walshit and telamonides is indeed very singular and not easy to explain. Nevertheless, I should believe that the ordinary warmth of the room in winter is the cause which prevents the chrysalids acquiring the perfect winter form JWalshiz. The case of ajax is more complicated than the other cases of seasonal-dimorphism. It seems now to me possible that not the form Wadshii is the primary, but fedamonides. It seems ¢elam- onides results from all generations. This primary form could have been changed by summer heat into marcellus, by winter cold into Walshit. But this would pre-suppose that ¢e/amonides has originated in the south and there resided at the time of the great glaciers.” Following the suggestions of Dr. Weismann, I have made experiments the past season on the chrysalids of ajax, having bred from eggs laid by var. felamonides the last of May many larvee, from which resulted between 22nd and 26th June, 122 chrysalids. These as fast as formed were placed on ice in the refrigerator, in small tin boxes, and when all were formed were transferred to a cylindrical tin box, four inches in diameter and six high, and packed away in layers between thin partings of fine shavings. (I used shavings because no_ better substance was at hand, having found cotton liable to mould when exposed to dampness.) The box was set in a small wooden box, and this was put directly on the ice “tT THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 23 and so kept till zoth July. I had then to leave home for a few weeks and sent the box to the ice house, with directions to place it on the sur- face of the ice. I learned afterwards that this was not done, but that it was set on straw near the ice. By this means the influence of the cold was necessarily modified, and I doubt if the chrysalids within the box, from the manner in which I had packed them, were equally subjected to the cold, those on the outside certainly feeling its full effects, but those in the middle to a less degree, and perhaps so much less as not to have made the experiment of much value so far as they were concerned. I returned on the 2oth of August and was informed that the ice in the house had just failed. The chrysalids had been subjected to quite a low temperature, and an equable one, while in the refrigerator for between three and four weeks, but from the defective packing had then probably not felt the cold in an equal degree, and they had been subjected to a lesser degree of cold in the ice house for five weeks longer, which also for some time must have been daily diminishing as the volume of ice decreased. That the severity of the cold was not sufficient to prevent the emerging of the butterflies was apparent when I opened the box, for there were discovered a number of dead ones, which had died as soon as they emerged, the wings being quite unexpanded. I threw out twenty-seven such, besides a number of dead chrysalids, and lamented that my experi- ment had failed, and that the work would have to be done over again next year. But one butterfly was alive, just from its chrysalis, and this I placed in a box in the house in order that it might expand. Here it remained forgotten till late at night, when I discovered that it was a telamonides of the most pronounced type. The experiment had not failed then. Early in the morning I made search for the dead and rejected butterflies, and recovered a few. It was not possible to examine them very closely from the wet and decayed condition they were in, but I was able to discover the broad crimson band which les above the inner angle of the hind wings, and which is usually lined on its anterior side with white, and is characteristic of either Wadshii or telamonides, but is not found in marcellus. And the tip only of the tail being white in Walsfzz, while both tip and sides are white in Zelamonzdes, enabled me to identify the form as between these two. There certainly were no JVaéshiz, but there seemed to be a single marcellus, and excepting that all were felam- ontdes. ‘The remaining chrysalids were now kept in a light room, and next day three ¢edamonides emerged. By the 4th September fourteen of the same 938 THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. form in all had emerged, but as yet no marced/us or intermediate form After that date a few ¢ecamonides appeared at intervals up to 2oth Sept., but a large proportion of the butterflies, namely, twelve out of twenty-six, between the 4th and 15th were intermediate between felamonides and marcellus, some approaching one, some the other more nearly. On 4th ~ Sept. the first examples wholly marce//us appeared, and one followed on each day, the 6th, 8th, 13th and 15th; from the 15th to the 3rd of Oct. six out of ten were #arcellus, and two intermediate; a single example between Zelamonides and Watshit appeared 3rd Sept., in which the tails were white tipped as in Wa/sfzz, but in size and other characters it was telamonides, though the crimson band might have belonged to either form. Up to the 2oth Sept one or more butterflies emerged daily, on one day, the 4th, eleven; after the 2oth single individuals appeared at intervals of from four to six days, and the last was on 16th Oct. So that the whole period of emerging after the box was brought from the ice house was 57 days, and it had commenced some time before that occurred. The natural duration of the chrysalis state in such examples of ajax as emerge the first season is only about fourteen days, but in very rare instances in my experience single individuals have emerged after a period of from four to six weeks. In all, 50 butterflies emerged between the zoth August and 8th October, divided as follows : Telamonides. biteyt DEER IPT, TRS Se Dee elas Between Telehioiiltes sii Sishii: ae eat” SUC, Seer Between Telamonides and ae aid nearest - the former 7. Between Telamonides and Marcellus, and nearest the latter.. 9. Marrellng S. Sratefiot «>. einem... vs es ONE Sais, ANS, Ge Great uniformity is observable in the size of all these butterflies, their average being that of the ordinary ¢elamonides, The examples of telam- onides especially are strongly marked, the crimson band in a large propor- tion of them being as conspicuous as is usual in Walshiz, and the blue lunules near the tail are remarkably large and bright colored. Of the marcellus, in addition to the somewhat reduced size, the tails are almost invariably shorter than usual and narrower, and instead of the character- istic single crimson spot, nearly all have two spots, often large. In all these particulars they approach Zelamonzdes. To the ¢elamonides which emerged after 20th Sept.must be added most of the butterflies which were found dead in the box at that date, and this would bring the number to nearly fifty of that form. There remain of THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 939 the original 122 chrysalids (several having died without yielding the imago), 28 chrysalids which are likely to go over the winter. In the experiments recited in But. N. A. as made with chrysalids of ayax in the summer of 1871, of several broods of ¢elamonides the percentage of butterflies which emerged the same season varied from fifty to sixty, a few dying in chrysalis and the rest over-wintering. In 1870 the proportion of emerging butterflies was larger, but 28 is not an unreasonable number to overwinter out of 122. I conclude, therefore, that the butterflies which have so far emerged this season would naturally have done so, and that the effect of cold has not been to precipitate the emerging of any which would have slept till next spring. And as all which would naturally have emerged this season would have taken the form marcellus, the cold has completely changed a large part of these from marcellus to telam~ onides,and probably such were from the chrysalids which were subjected to severest cold. The intermediate examples have also changed, but not completely, owing to the lesser degree of cold applied, as before explained ; and finally, it seems probable that several chrysalids experienced cold sufficient to retard their emerging and to stunt their growth, but not enough to decidedly change their form. These are the. marcellus. As to the duration of the chrysalis period, extreme confusion has been produced, so that the emerging, instead of taking place at 14 days after the cold was lessened or withdrawn, as might have been expected, has been protracted through more than two months. Inthe case of mapz, as related by Dr. Weismann, where the chrysalids were subjected to cold for three months and then brought into the green-house, the butterflies began to appear in 15 days (or about their natural period), and all that emerged that year did so in the next seven days. In every case the reversion to the winter form was complete; and those chrysalids of the lot which over-wintered all gave the same form in the spring. _ This it is probable the over-wintering chrysalids of azax will do,—that is, they will give zelamonides in the spring, and had the degree of cold applied been equal and constant the reversion would probably have been complete. Telamonides must be regarded as the primary form of the species. What. the position of Walshit may be further experiments will perhaps determine. I append a table showing the dates of emergence of these butterflies : 2oth August .1 male Telamonides. mst ts Pe oa ta 2 females ra Pena, hs a *s QAO THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 24th August.. 1 female Telamonides. parm “0 rr male i 31st ce a I ee 6c patspept.t 2). et “ eng .* I “ 66 para) (/S* rt “ betw’n Telamonides& Walshii. ao Beesift Telamonides. 4th 6c ; 4 é T 73 6c“ 75 ada .2 “ medium, n’r’st z ache: ‘fF At i Marcellus. mth}. pans: a 1 res Sees Telamonides. Becta @-) vc.) 2°“ medium, nrst re ede Guat. Ms Marcellus. “a3 Nala ay oy Telamonides. Beni! * spas Marcellus. os sls rae rte Telamonides. Beat Sort ws RS 1 ‘* medium, nearest Marcellus. Pine era) medium, n ras i" TL ne aia Fie Telamonides. reth) <" saline Marcellus. . rau Wr godibe rt ‘* medium, nearest re Ce .I “ medium, n’r’st Telamonides. Rear e ili) rie DE Marcellus. 16th <4 I ce ce Saat eS Ro ee Telamonides. coi un... * MedUM, Mast Marcellus rgth ee I 6é ce pam CET ey ke ‘Telamonides. 1s OSS Eee Beeb Marcellus. SEMMAR ST |. ifwen Cae t 2nd October. a i 3rd oo 1 ‘* medium, nearest Telamonides. 8th 74 I ce ce} 74 16th ‘ a furs 5: RESULT : Telamonides...............22 spec’s.....11 male, 11 female. “7 paruy; Waiciieeos 8=— | cas - 7 ae a,