During the latter part of the month of May, of the spring of 1873, while reclining upon the ground beneath the shade of a tree growing on the outskirts of a thicket, the sun at the time beaming in all its glory and splendor overhead, my attention was suddenly arrested by the activity and excitement presented by a nest of the ordinaru yellow ant, Formica flave.

Since the issue of the Check List of N. A. Coleoptera by the late Mr. G. R. crotch, I have been asked by several persons interested in that branch of science, if I would advise them to change the labels in their collections in accordance with the nomenclature of several familiar genera as therein set forth. To all such applicants I have answered, that such changes are not expedient, unless they are fully, convinced of the propriety of admitting them. For my part, I considered them quite unnecessary, and still further, contrarry to the code of laws of nomenclature under which I supposed we were acting.

Antennae serrate. Collar arched, ochreous at its base, brown above. Behind the collar the usual longitudinal sharp-edged thoracic crest. Abdomen with a thick, short tuft on its first segment. ♀ with an extended ovipositor. Anterior wings above brown, with feriuginous shades. All the transverse lines dark brown, regular and distinct. Half line present. Interior line undulate above the median nervure ; at the latter point it is bent inwardly, and advances in a nearly straight line to the inner margin. Median shade very distinct, broad, not clearly defined along its edges, strongly angulated on the median nervure, and then nearly touching the reniform spot.

Having spent considerable time during the past season in the collection and study of various larval forms of our twilight and night-fliers, I was peculiarly impressed with the novel colors, markings, and external structural characters presented by those that were taken late in the autumn, at the period when the leaves were donning their autumnal hues. To one who has rendered himself familiar rvith their usual outward characters, a moment's inspection was sufficient to show a marked contrast between those taken early in the season, when the leaves were fresh and green, and those captured later, when the foliage of the trees had sustained a check to their vitality. That these larval changes have a producing cause it shall be my aim to show in the conclusion of the present article.

The opponents of the law of priority in nomenclature have taken occasion, both in England and America, to argue against the restoration of obsolete names, on the ground that the names enployed in my Catalogue of Diurnal Lepidoptera do not always harmonize with those used in Staudinger's Catalogue of European Lepidoptera.

Can there be two Antispila miners of the Dog-wood? Either there must be, and my specimens are specifically distinct from this species, or Dr. Clements' description is strangely erroneous in at least one particular, viz., the color of the fascia and streaks, which he says are golden in cornifoleilla, but which are silvery white in my specimens, all of which six in number–agree exactly in ornamentation, and all but one of which are bred specimens. The species of the genus generally resemble each other very closely, and some recognized species do not differ from each other more than my specimens do from Dr. Clemens' description.

The meeting with Papilio turnus on the Island of Anticosti, astonished me, as I did not expect to find this butterfly so far north in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Only two specimens were taken during the season. and old settlers say that it is ahvays rare. Anticosti is evidently its most northerly limit, as it does not occur on the opposite shore of Labrador. It is common at Halifax, N. S., and in many localities along the south side of the St. Lawrence, until we reach the lake and rocky regions on the heighth of land from which the Assomption river flows north of Montreal.

The specimens are hardly to be distinguished from Eastern material; they are perhaps a little larger, and of a little different tone of color. My determination of this species as lycarum H.-S., based on a figure, is probably incorrect. It seems possible that Harris has described. A. Cochranii under the name messoria, which should then be retained. More Material of A. fuscigerus (ante No. 15) shows that this is a good but variable species, both in size and color. There is always a uniformity in the disposition of the ground tint over the primaries above, and usually the broad inner lunulations of the t. p. line and the median shade are characteristic.

Many persons are deterred from collecting caterpillars by the difficulty and expense of preserving them in the ordinary way. The easy and inexpensive method of blowing up and mounting the pellicle is so little known in this country, that at the last meeting of the American Association, only one entomologist besides myself had ever seen the operation; since then others have tried it, and been delighted with its simplicity. In the hope of inducing all our entomologists to experiment for themselves, the following explanation of the process hes been prepared.

The third and concluding part of Kaltenbach's work (Die Pflanzenfeinde aus der Classe der Insecten), has just been received in this country, and contains the following notices of the food plants of European, butterflies, in addition to those previously given. The numbers in parentheses refer to the former list.

This lovely moth is well worthy a place in the cabinet of the collector, and is always sure to attract notice and admiration. The larva, of which fig. 27 represents a full-grown specimen, is of a most delicate apple or pea green colour, with a broad, dusky white stripe at each side, bordered with liliac on the lower edge. The body is covered with clusters of green bristles, tipped with a black.

Onr readers will recognize at once in figure 8, (Lachnosterna quercina) the common May-bug in its different stages. I shows the chrysalis; 2 the larva, and 3 and 4 the perfect insect. It appears in some years in vast nnmbers, and is greatly complained of, whilst in other seasons it is comparatively rare. This depends chiefly on the long duration of its developement. The insect flies with a humming noise, so that one is aware of its approach at the distance of some yards.

It is well known to the popular as well as scientific world that the Aphides secrete or rather excrete a peculiarly viscid and honey-like fluid which forms one of the chief delicacies of Ants. That it was originally designed to form an article of food for the latter is a supposition that cannot be entertained for a single moment ; bnt that it is in some way connected with the preservation of the soft and tender beings by which it is manufactured, there can be no reasonable doubt.

There has been some coufusion lately in regard to the limits and synonymy of these two common species, partially due to Dr. Harris' unsatisfactory reference to them in his “Report on the Insects of Massachusetts.” 1841. and to the inaccessibility of Prof. Peck's original descripticn of A. vernata.

In the numerous notes on these species and references to them in recent publications, they are in nearly allcases confounded together or wrongly determined; and I have not found them correctly named in a single collection which I have examined.

The butterflies collected by Mr. Couper have been already enumerated in the “Bulletin of the Buffalo Society of Natural Sciences.” They were : Vanessa atalanta, Argynnis atlantis, Phyciodes tharos, Glaucopsyche Couperi, Cyaniris lucia, Ganoris oleracea var. borealis, Papilio brevicauda and, Cycloypides mandan. The moths, as far as the Geometridæ, have been determined by me and were as follows

Preparatory to a fresh edition of the “List of Lep.,” of 1868, a few memoranda of the necessary changes rvill be published.

Sesia uniformis, p iii. This species is distinct from thysbe, and has been noticed by Mr. Lintner in his valuable “Entomological Contributions.” Mr. Couper found it on Anticosti. This can not be Sesia ruficaudis Kirby, the description of which is given on p. 27 of the “Synonymical Catalogue” of 1865.

The little insect which I have made the type of this new genus, unites in itself the characters of several genera.

Tongue naked, about as long as the maxillary palpi, which nearly conceal it. The maxillary palpi are about as long as the labial palpi and in the dead insect are laid upon the coxae ; they are rather densely scaled, the scales being somewhat roughened.