Paleacrita longiciliata, n. sp.

Expands 26 mm. Palpi dark fuscuous; front very broad, dark fuscous, slightly tufted; antennae fuscous gray, subpectinate, the fascicles of hairs fine, silky, very long, some six to ten times diameter of stem; thorax dark fuscous gray; abdomen dark fuscous. Fore wings, costa strongly arched, apex quite pointed, inner angle rounded whole wing narrow and lanceolate; colour light fuscous, generally washed over with dark fuscous, with numerous black atoms, especially on the veins, making them linearly blackish; also apically and in small indistint shadings across the wing light gray, also light gray shading at ends of veins at margin; marginal points intervenular, blackish; fringe long; fuscous gray, and light gray; hind wings even fouscous, veins darker; fringe long, dark fuscous. Beneath even fuscous on all wings about colour of hind wings above, veins darker, the fore wings with a sprinkling of dark fuscous atoms.

When examining some stems of timothy grass taken from a wheat field in Prince Edward Island, where this year's crop had been badly infested with Hessian Fly, I found two of the stems of timothy which bore the undoubted flax-seed-like puparia of the Hessian Fly.

Some time ago Prof. C. F. Baker sent me a lot of small bees collected by Dr. R. E. Kunzé at phoenix, Arizona, May 12, 1897, “on willows and various low herbs.” I have examined these with interest, as they belong to genera not recorded from that region; they prove to be as follows:

(1.) Perdita salicis, Ckll., 1896.–♂. ♀. Very many specimens.

(2.) Prosapis messilae, Ckll., 1896.–A few, mostly males.

(3.) Halictus meliloti, Ckll., 1895.–One ♀.

(4.) Halictus pseudotegularis, Ckll., 1896.–On April 12, 1897, I took at flowers of Sisymbrium, in Messila, N. M., a single Halictus which differed decidedly from Illinois H. tegularis, but, to my surprise, almost agreed with the Mexican H. pseudotegularis, except that the wings were clear. Now, among the Arizona bees I find examples of pseudotegularis with slightly dusky wings, as in the type, of that species; the second submarginal cell is noticeably smaller than in tegularis, and receives the recurrent nervure further from its end.

Until last year (1897), owing to the lack of suitable surroundings, I had made no attempt at systematic collecting “at light.” Now, as the result of this one season's capture, I am firmly convinced that this method of collecting is the very best way in which to make a large collection quickly and to secure in abundance species hitherto rarely met with or entirely new. For all night-flying species no other way of collecting has ever proved so profitable with me, and a short account of my experiences, with notes of some of the captures made, may be of interest. To begin with, this was my fourth collecting season in Manitoba, but until this year the good things taken at light were few and far between. Locality is everything, and my surroundings in previous years consisted of too much brick and mortar and too little of nature's clothing. At the end of May this year I moved to Fort Rouge, a surburb of Winnipeg, situated between the Red and Assiniboine Rivers. Formerly the whole of this was “bush,” with some good timber along the river banks. I am, glad to say that a goodly portion of Fort Rouge is still “bush,” with here and there a little clearing, sufficient to allow of a residence or so; sometimes just enough only for the house, which when the trees are in full foliage may be completely shut in. Where I live the place is more settled, but still plenty of thick bush about, here and there, if only in small pieces. In June my yard (out of politeness perhaps it should be styled garden) was full of wild rose bushes, the flowers of which adorned our tables and perfumed our rooms for more than a month. The children stepped outside the back gate to pick flowers and wild strawberries; at the side of the house and along the roadway in front on both sides, white clover was everywhere in profusion, and the air was laden with the scent. And yet the roads is block-paved, and the electric cars pass along it, and a ride of eight minutes on my wheel will take me to my office in the heart of this city of 40,000 or more people.

I have been so fortunate as to have, while making the following notes, the collection of Philanthus belonging to the Academy of Natural Sciences before me.

Philanthus Sanborni, Cress. (Philanthus Trumani, Dun. Ent. News, VIII.,70, ♂, not ♀.)

This species does not always have the W-shaped mark on face described by Cresson.

This family is very sharply separated from the Selandriidœ, Dineuridœ and the Tenthredinidœ by having only one marginal cell in the front wings, while from the Hylotomidœ, Lophyridœ, Perreyiidœ and the Pterygophoridœ which also have only one marginal cell, it is readily distinguished by pteropterological and antennal characters, and especially by the basal nervure in front wings uniting with the subcostal vein far from the origin of the cubitus.

I have read with much interest a couple of papers by Mr. Hanham, of Winnipeg, on the capturing of insects “at light.” I had adopted this method in the Old Country with much success, and last season in this district, near the head of Lake Manitoba, I employed the same means and secured a goodly number of specimens. There is no doubt that light is most efficacious in securing to the one who makes use of it many insects that would otherwise be only rarely met with, but while engaged in thus making cautpres one cannot help being struck–a point to which Mr. Hanham alludes–with the effect light has upon many of the Lepidoptera, or rather with the different effects it has upon different individuals.

Pontania consors, new species.

Larva and Galls.—Dyar, Jour, N. Y. Ent. Soc., VI., June, 1898 p. 121.

Female.—Lenght, 4.5–5. mm.; slender; surface shining, not at all pubescent; clypeus distinctly emarginate, lobes triangular; ocellar basin distinctly defined, but with walls rounded; crest rather sharp, unbroken; fovea oval, distinctly defined; antennae short, joints 3 and 4 subequal; sheath moderatly broad, regularly rounded at tip; clothed with a rather dense fringe of long browish hairs; cerci narrow and elongate; claws deeply cleft, rays subequal; venation normal, upper discal cell of hind wings elongate, as long as or exceeding lower. Colour black; orbits and face brownish-yellow, including the area between the bases of the antennae; pronotum, tegulae and legs for the most part and venter of abdomen yellowish or resinous; bases of coxae black; posterior tarsi strongly infuscated; sheath dark brown; apical half of abdomen, dorsally, resinous, more or less infuscated; veins and stigma dark brown or strongly infuscated; wings hyaline or nearly so.

In the early part of May last, on meeting Mr. Bice he had the agreeable information ot convey to me that he had taken a Sphinx that was new to him. Upon looking at it I at once suspected that it was new to me also; and on investigation proved the correctness of the impression. Its small size, strikingly Smerinthoid form of primaries, peculiar olive-gray colour and distinctly outlined ornamentation made it easy to determine.

The following table made as simple as possible, and based almost exclusively upon the female sex, will serve to distinguish the species of Xiphidium hitherto described or recorded from the United States and Canada. It included only the species of Xiphidium proper; i. e., those of slender form with straight or nearly straight ovipositor, excluding the stouter species with distinctly arcuate ovipositor, commonly referred to Orchelimum, though both are classed together by Redtenbacher.

Resembles the preceding genus in form, but the angulation or tuberculation of the prothoracic flanks is better marked. The Canadian species are few. Mr. Leng has thus defined them, following, in the main, a previous arrangement of Dr. Horn:

A. Front flat, mouth in same plane. Elytra without angular mark posteriorly, sides of thorax arcutate, the spine small and acute. Elytra without erect scales. .24–.48 in……… variegatus, Hald.

Cuterebra emasculator, Fitch.—This species was supposed by Dr. Brauer to be the same as his C. scutellaris, but an examination of Fitch's type, now the property of the National Museum, discloses the fact that it is identical with C. fontinella, Clark. When describing the hairs of the thorax as yellowish, Dr. Fitch had evidently examined them in a very bright light, under which conditions they have a deceptive yellowish appearance, but in reality are altogether black.

As so little is known of the Orthoptera of Canada, the following notes on the species of Acridiidae, which I have taken in Ontario, may prove of some value. They are by no means intended to form a complete list of the species found in Ontario, but only of those which have come under my observation.

In the 22nd Report of the Entomological Society of Ontario, being that for 1891, there appeared a paper from my pen under the title “Can Insects Survive Freezing?”

I have recently come across further records of observations upon this subject, and deem them of sufficient interest to be republished in the Canadian Entomologist.

In looking over and interesting book of travels entitled “A Journey from Prince of Wales's Fort in Hudson's Bay to the Northern Ocean, undertaken by order of the Hudson's Bay Company for the discovery of copper mines, a north-west passage, etc., in the years 1769, 1770, 1771 and 1772, by Samuel Hearne,” published in 1796, I came across the following interesting notes on page 397

The Epiplemidæ are a family of moths fairly well represented in India. (see Hahpson's Moths of India, III., 121.) Only one larva is known, that of Epiplema latifasciata, Moore, and unfortunately the figure is insufficient to show more than that the feet are normal five abdominal pairs, and the setæ probably single. The family occurs also sparingly in America. Hulst lits three genera as a subfamily of Geometridæ the Strophidiinæ (Trans. Am. Ent. Soc. XXIII., 309); but I would certainly prefer Hampson's treatment, both as to the name and rank of the group.

In the course of an investigation of insects affecting cucurbits, begun in a preliminary way in the season of 1897, as a part of the official work of the Division of Entomology of the Department of Agriculture, it was found that we have in addition to the common squash bug, Anasa tristis, DeG., a second species sufficiently resembling it as to have readily escaped the notice of the average observer, but at the same time quite distinct in all its stages. This species is Anasa armigera, Say, and it was first observed on cucurbits by the writer July 12, near colonial Beach, Va., where it occured on cucumbers. Afterward it was taken by the writer and Mr. F. C. Pratt, of the Division of Entomology, who has assisted in field investigations and collections on different cucurbits, at Ballston, Va., Poolesville and Seat pleasant, Md., and on the Conduit Road and at Tenleytown, D. C. At the last mentioned place it occured in great abudance on a late crop of cucumbers and watermelons. As late as the 29th of September, all stages of the insect were found, including the egg. The present year the species was found to be nearly as abundant in some locaties as the common squash bug. Such was the case at Marshall Hall, Md., and in one locality in the District of columbia. It was also observed on squash at College Station and Kensington, Md., and on cucumber at Cabin John, Md.