Cladius (Trichiocampus) gregarius, n. sp.

Allied to Cladius viminalis, Fallen. The larval habits are also identical, as seen by Dr. J. A. Lintner's account of viminalis in his Fourth Report, p. 44 (as Aulacomerus lutescens). The fly, however, is differently coloured; the larva differs but slightly, in that the lateral black spots are larger than the subdorsal ones, whereas in viminalis the reverse appears to be the case.

In making a study of the Provancher types of Ichneumonidæ while at Quebec a year ago last winter, the type of many of the more recent descriptions was not found in the collection. Since that time types of many of the Abbé's latest descriptions have been found to be with the ones who sent the material, and are not lost, as was at first feared. Mr. W. H. Harrington, of Ottawa, has quite a number of these types, and through his kindness and generosity I have been privileged to study the types in his possession. The following notes are the result of this review:

Ichneumon citrinus ♂ = Hepiopelmus, Wesm.—This would be an Amblyteles by Cresson's synopsis.

Recently I have examined the larvæ of some European Thyatiridæ, and find the setæ arranged exactly as in our species. [See Proc. Boston Soc. Nat. Hist., 1894, p. 399.] The supplementary seta behind iii. varies a little in position, but is uniformly present. The species examined are Habrosyne derasa, Thyatira batis, Bombycia or, B. duplaris, Asphalia ruficollis, and A. fluctuosa. A correction must be made in my description just referred to (pp. 400–401). The species there described in all its stages as “Thyatira scripta” is really Pseudothyatira expultrix. The following list may straighten out the matter:—

Habrosyne scripta.

1883. Thaxter, Papilio III, 10. Describes egg and sixth stage.

In Can. Ent., 1894 (Vol. XXVI ., p. 293), Prof. G. H. French described the early stages of this species, but failed to get the larvæ past their second moult. Prof. French kindly sent me eggs, and I have raised the larva through all its stages. It is, however, exactly like the normal H. maia, already described by Prof. Riley and Dr. Lintner, as we might expect from the position to which the moth has been assigned. I will, therefore, not take up space to redescribe the several stages in detail. The characters of the tubercles and setæ are such as I have described for the Hemileucidæ (Trans. N. Y. Acad. Sci., XIV., 55), and are the same as in Pseudohazis. In my account of the genus (Psyche, VII., 91), the statements about the arrangement of the setæ are inaccurate, owing to insufficient amplification (only a lens was used). I add, therefore, figures of the thoracic and abdominal setæ, stages I. and II. of Hemileuca, showing the true arrangement, and these may be considered to stand also for Pseudohazis.

The seeds of Gleditschia triacanthus frequently show a narrow scar upon the surface. Rarely two of these scars are found upon the same seed. These scars are about one-eighth of an inch long; and indicate the presence of Spermophagus gleditschiæ, a Bruchid beetle, of a mottled, tawny appearance, frequently bred from these seeds in the spring. The grub remains in the seed over winter, changes to pupa in the spring and soon emerges, as a perfect beetle, through a rounded hole in the side of the bean-seed.

Some time ago, Prof. Gillette sent me a few specimens of an Aspidiotus found on plum at Cañon City, Colorado 31st Aug., 1894. They occurred on the fruit itself. He had previously sent the species to Mr. L. O. Howard, who had written that it was apparently new. The material sent was not altogether satisfactory, owing to the fact that the insect occurs solitarily on the fruits, and has to be collected by slicing off bits of the skin. Consequently it is inconvenient to obtain it in quantity, and not very easy to nicely preserve those obtained, However, the discovery of a new Aspidiotus on plums in the United States was a matter of importance, and deserved the most careful consideration.

I recently received from Mr. T. D A. Cockerell, Las Cruces, New Mexico, a minute parasite of a Ceroplastes on Euphorbia hypericifolia from the Red Hill district of Jamaica, which was transmitted to him by Dr. M. Grabham. Both genus and species prove to be new, and are printed separately, partly for the reason that my revision of the Aphelininæ of North America has recently been published and I do not expect to do any extensive work on the subfamily again for some time, and partly for the reason that Mr. Cockerell wishes to use the names in the Journal of the Institute of Jamaica.

In 1875–61 I pointed out that the earliest name for the genus, which is commonly called “Acronycta” by authors, is Apatela, Hubn., 1806; the type and sole species cited in the Tentamen being the European A. aceris. My attempts to group the American species and brings them into correspondence with the European forms under subgeneric titles are unsatisfactory, as I have not been able to compare sufficiently the European species in all stages with our own.

In the able and original paper on “Evolution and Taxonomy,” by my friend, Prof. Comstock, published in 1893, is a note, on page 103, relating to the use of the generic title Megalopyge. The author says, refering to Berg'ss (not “Berge”) articles on Argentine Lepidoptera. “This monograph seems to have been overlooked by American writers.” This seems not quite correct.

The following will form the first of a series of papers on the Siphonaptera, in which will be mentioned all known species, together with such, new species as have come to my notice. Besides what has been drawn from theexamination of a large series of specimens in my own collection, and many kindly sent me by Taschenberg, Howard, Bruner, Osborn, comstock and others, I have borrowed freely from previous papers on the subject, and especially from Taschenberg's “Die Flohe.”

The Editor regrets to announce that the main buildings of Trinity College School, of which he has been Head Master for the last twenty-five years, was totally destroyed by fire on the night of Saturday, February 9th. Thoungh the weather ws intensely severe and all the boys were in bed when the fire broke out, no one was injured in any way. Schoolwork was resumed in temporary quarters on th Tuesday morning, and in a few days a large hotel and other premises were secured, in which the boys are comfortably provided for until the work of rebuilding is completed.

Comparatively little is known of the insect fauna of the Bahama Islands, since most of the collectors who have gone to the West Indies have confined their attention chiefly to larger and better settled members of this great group, and as a consequence we have a tolerably fair knowledge of such of them as Cuba, Jamaica, Porto Rico, and Guadaloupe, with scarcely any records from the little rocky islets of which the Bahamas proper are composed. Late researches on the coast of Florida have shown a close affinity between the fauna of that region and of the Antilles, so that the study of the insects of the latter has now a direct bearing on that of those of our own domain. The short sketch which follows is intended merely as a preliminary account of a collecting trip to certain points in the British West Indies, and no more is hoped for than to give the reader a general idea of the coleopterous fauna of these at the time of year during which the collections were made. Only occasionally was it possible to land and work the country for insects, as the main object of the expedition, of which the writer was a member, was the study and collection of the marine invertebrata, and most of the time was necessarily devoted to them.