on the 15th of June 1869, I obtained several Thecla larvæ by beating over an umbrella the branches of some small oak trees growing in a cemetery about two miles west of London. Not having met with them before I at once took the follorving description : Length, ·40 in., onisciform. Head small, pale greenish-yellow with a minute black dot on each side. Mandibles pale brown, with a faint whitish patch immediately above them. Body above yellowish-green, streaked above with yellowish-white, and thickly covered with fine, short, white hairs ; second segment of rather a darker shade of green than the rest of the body.

1. Actias Luna.—Eggs laid at night by a female in confinement, on April 30th (this is an exceptional case, they are not generally laid until June). They are lateriform, obrotundate, smooth, approaching in some cases a spheroid, opaque, very dark sepia with a faint tinge of olivaceous, though some specimens were marked with broad white bands irregularly disposed, and a very few almost entirely white.

In the proceedings of the Boston Society of Natural History, Mr. S. H. Scudder publishes a paper, “On the Synonymy of Thecla Calanus,” under date of March, 1870.

Mr. Scudder says : “In Eastern North America there are two species of Thecla, closely allied, occupying, so far as we know, the same geographical area (from Canada to Virginia or Georgia, and from Massachusetts to Iowa), and, until recently, almost invariably confounded by American entomologists. Messrs. Grote & Robinson first called public attention to the fact of their specific distinctness, although Mr. W. Saunders, both in his correspondence and MSS., had previously urged the same point.

With a fruit farm in the country frequently visited, and a fruit garden in town, my opportunities for observing the times and doings of insect foes and friends are sufficiently ample to satisfy the desires of the most active and enthusiastic “bug-hunter” that ever carried a net. Norv a swarm of caterpillars disfigures the form and mars the beauty of a handsome tree, by consuming a considerable part of its foliage ; again, a host of aphides, by their constant sucking of the juices of the leaves, will cause them to shrivel, curl up, and often change colour, and the enormous rate at which these creatures increase adds much to the difficulty of their extermination ; or some unwelcome “little Turk” sits down uninvited to feast on our finest fruits, and, not satisfied with appeasing its own appetite, leaves its progeny behind to complete the work of destruction; or it may be some rascally borer insidiously undermines one's fondest hopes by girdling and thus destroying trees or shrubs whose growth has cost years of toil and watching

When comparing descriptions of larvæ made by different writers, the Iabour of the student is often greatly increasecl by the want of order and method in their compilation. with a view of simplifying details and lessening labour, the following suggestions are offered, with the hope that they may serve to stimulate some to enter earnestly into this interesting branch of our favorite study,

Seeing in the last number of the Canadian Entomologist, a description of the egss of A. Luna, reminds me to ask of you the explanation of a curious circumstance in the life-history of one bred by me from the larva last year. I will premise that I am writing without my notes, and therefore cannot give figures accurately, but can give the facts. There may be nothing very strange about it, but two of the best entomologists in the United States inform me that it is entirely new to them. It is this:–Some time in the latter part of the summer of 1868 I took, feeding on walnut leaves, a mature larva of A. Luna; from which I did not houi to rear the mature insect, because I counted on the larva over twenty eggs like those of a Tachina, Underneath some of the eggs I could discern with a lens a minute opening through which the fly-larva had entered the body of the Luna larva. The skin of the latter was more or less discoloured under each egg, but under some-under many in fact there was a dense black spot, sometimes two lines in diameter.

In the Proceedings and Transactions of the Nova Scotian Institute of Natural Science (1868-9, p. 78-87), I have given a list of some specimens of Nova Scotian Lepidoptera, sent me for determination by the esteemed President of the Institute, J. Matthew Jones, Esq., of Halifax. Among these was included a new species of Anarta, the description of which I reprint here, as many of those interested in this department of Entomology may not have access to the original publication.

In July of last year there bloomed in my garden a fine plant of that variety of evening primrose known as “Lamarckiana”(Œnothera Lamarckiana). I had been advised by an Entomological friend to procure this flower with the view of attracting moths at night, and found it to succeed admirably. Its lovely yellow petals expand suddenly about seven o'clock every evening, and diffuse a fragrance all around very attractive to Sphingidae and other nocturnal moths. The flowers expand about three inches and are very beautiful; they remain expanded until some time after sunrise the following morning, when they close to open no more.

For ten years we have been trying, and trying in vain, both in England and America, to obtain a copy of Kirby's descriptions of the insects of the Northern parts of British America, contained in the fourth volume of Richardson's Fauna Boreali-Americana, published at Norwich in 1837. Many of our friends have been making similar attempts, and always with the like ill-success. We have had, however, occasional access to a copy in the iibrary of the University of Toronto, which, with the exception of one in the Library of Parliament at Ottawa, is the only copy we know of in Canada.

This butterfly appeared earlier than usual with us last year. It is not seen on the wing sooner than the 10th or 12th of June, but this season they were tolerably common as early as the 1st, and probably had been then flying for several days. The delight in the sunny openings found oftimes in partially cleared woods, also in wooded lanes and roads and the sunny edges of the forest, where by their peculiar jumping flight they may be readily recognized, sometimes singly, at other times sporting in twos and threes. For the first few days the specimens capturad will be found to be nearly all the male sex, but after this the females begin to appear and both sexes are found together during the remainder of their short season of life which does not usually extend beyond the first week in July.

At the request of the Head Master, the Rev. A. Sweatman, I recently accompanied my friend, Mr. W. Saunders, to the college, to adjudicate the prizes given for the collection of native insects, made by the boys during the summer vacation. Considering that this is the first effort of the school at entomology the result is most gratifying, and I feel sure that some slight notice of these collections will be of interest to the readers of the Entomologist.

51. Amara Vulgaris, Latr.—Length of body 4 to 4½ lines. Many specimens taken in lat. 65°, and in the Rocky Mountains.

Body black, glossy; above black-bronzed. Scape of the antennæ piceous; inner lobe of the maxillæ, and first joint of the outer palpi, testaceous ; basilar impressions of the prothorax double, deepish, impunctured, the external one oblique; channel abbreviated anteriorly, with a punctiform impression beyond the middle : furrows of the elytra lightly drawn, indistinctly punctured ; apex subacuminate or suddenly narrowed : legs black, with the hairs, spurs and claws testaceous. Variety B. Bright, bronzed with a cupreous tint.

The many difficulties encountered by those entomologists who have neither time nor access to scientific libraries, but who wish to be more than mere collectors, have induced me to try and assist them, more especially those who are to some extent advanced enough to distinguish many of the families and genera of the Coleoptera. I also hope to be of some assistance to those beginners who have a true love of nature and her works. Yet were I to write for this class only, the Entomologist would be more than full for years.

Length, 1 4/10 inches; body cylindrical inclined to onisciform.

Head, flat, bilobed and horned or notched, dark brownish red with several long hairs just above the mandibles and collar.

Body, plump, smooth and firm to the touch; colour, greenish grey with small spots and blotches: on the seventh segment, two lateral black spots, on the eighth segment, a small fleshy dark coloured horn curved backwards; the anal segment terminated by two elongated prolegs; on each segment are two dorsal spots or pimples with one long hair in each; a thick fringe of greyish hair on the base of the sides; the spiracles blackish, not distinctly marked.