Before describing these interesting little crickets which have been neglected or overlooked so long in this country, it becomes necessary to enter somewhat into details. The group being one not often written upon, or the specimens often met with, they are therefore rare to collections. Prior to this account but two authentic notices of their capture in the United States have appeared, viz., the one referring to a specimen taken in Georgia by H. K. Morrison, and the other a reference to the present described species, one from the vicinity of Washington D. C., and the other from the Pacific coast, at Portland, Oregon, the former of which is herewith figured (fig. 4), a representing the female, and b the male. This is undoubtedly the largest Myrmecophila known, being fully 4 m. m. in length, while the largest European species measures nearly one fourth less.

In the first number of this volume one of your contributors, Mr. Clarkson, writing about Citheronia regalis, infers that the moth always appears about the end of May, regardless of the time at which the larva enters the earth, and that it is the habit of the pupa to work out of the earth and lay on the surface of the ground during the winter. The first statement is correct in a certain sense. The insect in question is not uncommon here, and I have had them in numbers. Take a larva captured the first week in August and another the last in September, and allow them to pupate in the same box and to remain together—they will disclose within a day or two of each other; but whether at the last of May or at some other time, depends on the temperature at which they have been kept. Keep the pupa of the one taken in August at a temperature a few degrees lower than that of the September one, and it will disclose much later, perhaps about the time the offspring of the other are entering the earth. I had one pupa that did not disclose till June of the second year. The time of development seems to largely depend on the temperature that surrounds the pupa—a fact that is well known.

I have often read articles about keeping parasites out of cabinets, and have seen in many entomological papers different remedies suggested to keep them from destroying, in a very short time, even the largest collection. I will now add my own experience, and remedy which always proved to be efficient during my 14 years' collecting, in which time I have not even lost one specimen. It will especially prove of interest to the beginner. In the first place I would advise all those who cannot afford a large cabinet with good fitting drawers, to go to any good joiner and have some boxes made after the following pattern: Take the lumber about three-sixteenth inch thick for top and bottom, for the sides quarter of an inch. Have the box about 15 inches long by 12 inches wide, and 4 inches thick outside measure, and shape it book form, the bottom and top a quarter of an inch projecting. That portion which represents the cover of the book is cut into lengthwise, so as to make two receptacles, each about two inches high.

It is generally acknowledged by Entomologists that the hairy larvæ, such as the Arctians and their allies, very commonly escape parasitic attack, a circumstance attributable to the fact, that in order to permit the deposit of ova, these caterpillars must be discovered by the parasites in favorable postures, or else worried by them into such, that the spines separating, give the only opportunity for the insertion of the ovipositor. This was clearly demonstrated in an attack made by an Ichneumon upon a larva of Apatela Americana Harris, which came under my observation in the early part of last autumn. This genus belongs to the family of the Noctuidæ, the larvæ of which, like the Arctians, are clothed with dense spinular hairs. The caterpillar had secured itself by its abdominal legs to the midrib of a maple leaf, having the fore part of its body elevated, similar to the attitude common to the larvæ of the Sphingidæ.

On the 29th July last, while beating along the margin of a small stream, I found on my net a larva which had apparently fallen from an alderbush and which was unknown to me. I took it home, but it refused to feed upon alder, and I was unable to identify it and find out upon what to feed it. The only descriptions I had at hand were those of Mr. Reed in Annual Report for 1881, and no one of these seemed to answer. Finding that it refused every plant which I offered to it, and yet did not seem prepared to pupate, I put it in spirits, which, however, so discolored and shrivelled it that I threw it away. While it was alive I made the following brief note of its appearance: Light green, whitish on back, covered all over with white dots edged with black, but these most conspicuous on thoracic segments and substigmatal surfaces. Head granulated, margined by yellow and black line. Legs pink, stigmata orange fawn-color.