67. Trechus [Bradycellus] Tibialis, Kirby.—Length of body 2 3/4 lines. Only a single specimen taken.

[47] Body black, somewhat glossy. The tip of the palpi and scape of the antennæ are rufous; the prothorax is rather wider than long, but nearly square; the short basilar furrows observable in Argutor distinguish species from the succeeding ones: elytra lightly furrowed, furrows impunctured; in the usual situation adjacent to the second furrow a little beyond the middle of the elytrum a very minute puncti from impression is just discernible ; the lateral margin and suture at the apex of the elytra are reddish: the tibiæ are rufous but the cubit is black, at the tip , the tarsi are darker, the hand has four dilated joints as in the other species of the genus.

I inclose an ichnenmoned spider's cocoon, which I found on the mountain of Montreal early in May last. When I opened the cocoon, the larvæ had a bluish colour and were quite active. It produced about forty specimens of the fly, which I send you, as I have no means at hand of determining the species. There is, however, a very nice investigation in regard to the economy and modus operandi of this little ichneumon. That is, how does it reach the spider's eggs ? I cannot detect an ovipositor, and the body of the creature itself is only about a sixteenth of an inch long.

I regret that I had not observed before writing paper No. 1, a valuable article by my esteemed friend Riley on this insect, in his last Annual Report on ihe insects of Missouri. He there speaks of effects produced by it on young pear trees in that section, precisely similar to those I described and expresses the opinion, which I also entertain, that the puncture of this iniect is peculially poisonous to the young growth on the tree. He says, “it attacks many kinds of herbaceous plants, such as dahlias, asters, marigolds, balsams, cabbages, potatoes, turnips,” &c., and several other trees, besides pear, viz., quince, apple, plum and cherry.

The larva of Nemalus ventricosus, alas, too well known under the popular designation of “currant worm,” has been very abundant in this neighbour, hood during the present season. In my own garden it has been a continual fight as to who should have the currant and gooseberry bushes, the worms or their rightful owner. During the early part of summer, anticipating their attack, I was on the lookout for them, and by timely doses of hellebore preserved the foliage with but little damage. In about a fortnight later, having omitted inspection for a few days, I was surprised to find the bushes being stripped again ; and this time the enemy had got so far ahead as to damage their appearance considerably.

On returning from a collecting tour, one day in last June, I emptied my larvæ box, putting in a collar box for a short time a larvæ of C. Silvatica, one of the Geometrid and one other Lepidopterous larva: the two last I could not identify, but they were all, Lepidopterous, I did not open the box until three or four hours afterwards, when I found a decided change in the appearance of my larvæ, The C. Silvatica larva was bitten entirely apart, the head and three first segments being in one piece, the three last abdominal segments in another; the remaining segments were in an indistinguishable mass on the bottom of the box. The geometrid larva was in almost as bad condition, but was not bitten apart; the third was uninjured.

I wish to correct a few mistakes which I have made in the paper on this subject, which was published in the Entomologist Vol. II., No. 2.

1st. I have said that “not a single American species of Hemiteles, so far as I am aware, has as yet been described under that generic name as occurring north of the West India Islands.” This is incorrect. Mr. Riley, in his Missouri Report, has described two species, viz., H. thyridopteryx♂ ♀ , and H. Cressonii ♂, as found in his State

A single specimen of the larva of this insect was taken crawling on a fence on the 1st of October, 1866. It must be very rare in this locality, as I had never seen it before, nor have I observed it since, nor ever captured a specimen of the imago, which is very handsome. Food plant unknown. Length 1.20 in., cylindrical. Head medium sized, rather flat, slightly bilobed, of a pale greenish-white color, with a large patch of black on each lobe above and a smaller one below just above mandibles. Mandibles black, with a stroak of white on each. Body above pale greenish-white, semi-transparent, with transverse rows of tubercles of the same color, from which arise tufts of long, fine, silky, white hairs.

It is easy to distinguish the species of the genus Drepanodes from the other Phalænidæ, by their falcate or acutely produced primaries and their strong casual resemblance, both in size and ornamentation, to the Platypteryginæ (Drepana, Platypterix, Dryopteris), a subfamily of Bombycidæ This resemblance, while it has suggested to M. Guenée the generic name, is paralleled in the sub-order in different instances; but is here noteworthy as illustrating the synthetic relation which the great family Bombycidæ sustains to the other moths, The nearer affinities of Drepanodes in its family are with Chærodes.

In the last number of the Entomologist our late esteemed friend. Mr. B. D. Walsh, whose sudden death we most deeply deplore; calls in question the correctness of my inference regarding the occasional hybernation of the currant worm. intimating that my conclusions were based upon insufficient data. He says, “I can see no reason why a larva might not have hatched out from the egg in London, C. W., in the first week in May, 1869, spun up on Mr. Saunders' paper bag on may 30th, 1869, and the cocoon been noticed bv that gentleman for the first time, as he informs us, May 30th, 1869.

Late in July a number of specimens of a larva apparently allied to the genus Catocala were taken from the silver maple(Acer dasycarpum, Ehrn.) The description of this larva is as follows :

Length 1.40 inches; somewhat onisciform.

Head medium sized, flattened, bilobed; color pale ashen grey, with streaks of pale brown appearing under a magnifying lens as a fine network ; a dark brown, nearly black, stripe on each side, and a few short grey hairs scattered over its surface.

Body above brownish-grey, with numerous streaks and dots of pale brown. A double irregular dorsal line, widening here and there throughout its entire length. There are many other broken lines of the same character, composed chiefly of dots, but none of them continuous

Oblong-oval, piceous; legs, mouth, antennæ and sides of prothorax, rufotestaceous. Head black, shining, rather large; antennæ short, scarcely reaching the base of thorax, the latter nearly twice broader than long, basal angles broadly rounded, sides scarcely depressed at the apical angle, very much so behind, the margin narrowly reflexed, basal foveæ shallow scarcely punctured. Elytra ♂ black shining, ♀ semi-opaque and distinctly reticulate, striæ not deep, interstices somewhat convex, with a dorsal puncture behind the middle near the second stria, apex slightly and obliquely sinuate with a small but distinct sutural spine in the ♀ beneath rufo-piceous.

On the 17th of June I captured a female specimen of Hadena xylinoides, early in the evening on a sugar cask. Having confined it in a pill box I laid it aside and did not examine it again until the 20th, when it was observed that a number of eggs had been deposited. These, although examined casually by the microscope, I neglected taking a minute description of. They were about medium size, of a flattened conical form, greenish in colour, and ornamented with many striæ. The eggs hatched on the 24th of June, when the following description of the young larva as seen under a common eye-glass was taken

on the 21st of July at a quarter past seven in the evening we were passing around among the currant and gooseberry bushes watching the manipulations of a few of those well known foes, the larva of Nematus ventricosus. They were feeding away voraciously with perennial appetites, when a disturber of their peace appeared among them in them of a small black ichneumon fly which fastened itself on the body of one of their number, and began to deposit its eggs by means of a sharp ovipositor, dexterously thrust through the skin of its victim, whose jerks and writhings while indicating a very uneasy state, failed to shake off the tormontor.