The uses of the beating net are obvious and can at once be appreciated in the collecting of Coleoptera and larvæ. A convenient and simple form is here presented, with directions for its construction.

This particular form of net was invented and presented to me by my friend, Mr. T. B. Ashton, of Tonganoxie, Kansas, who has not only distinguished himself as a Coleopterist, but has shown hirnself to be an excellent mechanic.

By grasping the net with the left hand, as shown in fig. 2, thrusting it under a shrub, and giving the bush a quick shake, or blow with a walking-stick, every living thing upon it wil1 instantly fall upon the apron of the net. If Coleoptera, they can be secured with the fingers or a small net held in the other hand for that purpose. If caterpillars, they can be gently rolled into a receptacle prepared for them.

In the Can, Ent., vol, ix., p. 112, I have described as a new species,under the name of Caloptenus volucris, a long-winged variety of Pezotettix autumnalis Dodge. I separated it because of its great length of wing, in which respect it equals many specimens of Cal. spretus, while in the typical autumnalis the elytra are very short, ovate and pointed. It also exhibited sonie variations in color. The latter I have since seen paralleled irt autumnalis, and having found long-winged varieties of two other species of Pezotettix, I am now fully satisfied of the varietal character of volucris.

This season I have seen some peculiarities in rearing Papilio cresphontes that seem worth noting. I had at one time four of the larvæ in a cage of three different broods. The two older ones changed to chrysalids June 29th; one from the top of the box with the head down, number two on the side with head up. Number three pupated July 11th, on the side of the box, head up; number four changed July 14th, suspended from the top the same as number one, all of them at an angle with the object to which they were attached, as is usual with Papilios.

The natural history of the interesting gall insects is still somewhat mysterious. A large number of observations have been made here and in Europe by prominent Entomologists; nevertheless, a careful study of the most detailed papers always gives the impression that something is still wanting to explain the various facts related by the authors. Among the Hymenopterous gall insects important progress was made in the discovery by the late B. Walsh of the dimorphism of C. q. spongifica and C. q. aciculata, the latter one a parthenogenetic species. But even here new observations are wanted to fill some gaps in the history of those species. Mr. W. F. Bassett, of Waterbury, Conn., draws my attention to the fact that in a letter in the Proc. Entom. Soc. Lond., April, 1873, p. xv., he “did state most emphatically his belief that all one-gendered gall flies were the alternate of a two-gendered brood from galls of a different form,”

In Ent., x., p. 80, I stated that Dogwood was found to be the spring food-plant of this species, that is, of the larvæ proceeding from eggs laid by the form violacea; but probably there are other plants serving the same purpose, some of which bloom earlier than Dogwood, for fresh examples ofthe butterfly. form pseudargiolus, were taken on 21st April and on several subsequent days, and this was long before any of the larvæ feeding on Dogwood could possibly have produced them. prof. J.H. Comstock has recently sent me quite a number of mature larvæ taken by him at Ithaca, N. Y., feeding on the flower heads of Viburnum acerifolium, and in confinement the larvae wil1 eat clover, Nasturtium, Begonia, Asclepias, &c., eating the anthers. But I have been unable to make the females lay eggs on clover in confinement.

On page 218 of the “Revised Manual,” in speaking of other sources than flowers from which bees collect sweets, I remark that I have seen the bees thick about a large bark-louse, which attacks and often destroys one of our best honey-trees. This is an undescribed species of the genus Lecanium.

In the summer of 1870, this louse, which, as far as I know, has never yet been described, and for which I propose the above very appropriate name, tulipiferæ–the Lecanium of the tulip tree–was very common on the tulip trees about the College lawns.

Last summer I was so fortunate as to obtain fifty eggs of the rare Sphinx, Darapsa versicolor. They were found between June 26th and July 20th, on the under side of the leaves of the common swamp button bush, Cephalanthus occidentalis Linn., and, with two exceptions, were laid singly. The egg is round and slightly flattened-about the size of rape seed. It is at first light green and translucent, afterwards milky and opaque; a few before hatching became, about the spot where the larva emerged, russety. The longest any egg continued without hatching was six days, and it is almost a certainty that the duration of the egg state is seven days.

Sphinx catalpae Boisd., pl. 2, figs. 1, 2 (1874).

This species is represented in the Collection of Mr. E. L. Graef by an example from Florida. It is smaller and darker than D. undulosa or D. Hageni, of a uniform butternut or olive brown tint.

Emydia ampla, n. s.

♀. Wings large, body linear, slight. Eyes naked ; palpi exceeding the front ; maxillæ weak.

Larva of Arzama obliquate Grote.–Found April 23rd, under the bark of a dead maple about three feet from the ground, where it had made for itself an oval cavity in the dust.

Head small and black; head and first four segments flattened above Ist segment black, edged with light brown and with a light brown dorsal stripe; remaining segments dull olivaceous brown, slightly pubescent,and having the greasy appearance of an Agrotis larva. No dorsal stripe back of Ist segment; Ist and 2nd segments project laterally over stigmata; immediately below the stigmata on each side is a faint, narrow, brown stripe, below which the color is much lighter. Anal segment with a fleshy fold slightly resembling that of Catocala crataegi.

Egg–Sub-globose, well rounded in every part, but somewhat broadest below the middle; wholly covered by fine,irregularly hexagonal reticulations, scarcely raised above the surface; color yellow-green. Duration of this stage 8 days.

Young Larva–Length .08 inch; cylindrical, thickest in middle, tapering pretty evenly either way, the last segment ending in two short tails; body covered with fine white hairs, slightly recurved; color pink-white, marked longitudinally by seven crimson lines, one of which is medio-dorsal, and three on either side; head sub-globose, nearly twice as broad as any body segment, flattened frontally, depressed slightly at top, and with a small conical process upon each vertex; color dark brown. To next stage 7 days.

Mesostenus Nubilipennis.–♀. Black ; anterior orbits, lower part of cheeks, spot on middle of face, most of clypeus and labrum, spot on mandibles, annulus on antennæ, line on sides of collar, spot on each side of prothorax above, spot on disk of mesothorax, most of scutellum, dot on post-scutellum, tegulæ, spot beneath, spot on sides of pleura, spot on each side behind posterior wing, two elongate marks on metathorax behind covering the prominent, obtuse and transversely compressed tubercles, the four anterior coxæ, spot on posterior pair above, annulus at base of posterior tibiæ, extreme base and apex of the first joint of posterior tarsi, the second, third and fourth joints entirely, and the apical margin of segments 1-6 of abdomen, all white ; front unarmed ; thorax opaque; mesothorax confluently punctured ; metathorax reticulated; wings hyaline, with a fuliginous cloud beneath stigma, areolet quadrate, closed; legs fulvous, extreme tips of posterior femora, their tibiæ except white annulus near base, most of basal joint of their tarsi, and the apical joint, black ; abdomen fusiform, rather shining, punctured, first segment considerably dilated at apex ; ovipositor shorter than abdomen.

On the night of the 7th of last June my wife captured at light a fine female Samia columbia. The moth was at once secured, her wings pinioned, and she was placed in a cage with the hope that specimens of the other sex might be attracted, but none made their appearance; and on the night of the 12th she laid five eggs, glueing them to the gauze on the side of the cage, two in one place and three in another. During the following day (13th) none were laid, but on the night of the 13th she laid fourteen more in several different clusters, and on the night of the 14th she aid six more. None were laid during the following day and night, and as she was injuring herself with the pinion, she was killed and spread. Whether she would have laid any more had she been kept longer, or whether she had laid any before her capture, I cannot say.

In the early part of June, 1876, while plowing through a patch of Asclepias cornuti (the plant upon which beetles of the above genus are found), I observed numerous cerambycidian larvæ in the bottom of the furrow, stirring about in the soil. Two of the larvæ were put in a glass jar with a growing milk-weed plant. Although they were put in the soil near the roots, they soon came to the surface and wriggled about for a week, and then pupated, and finally came out perfect specimens of T. tetrophthalmus.

Among the North American species known to me in nature, there is not one identical with, or even similar to any European ; and the opinions of prominent Transatlantic colleagues, as to whether identical species occur in the two countries (Scel. centaureæ excepted, which is common to the Arctic regions of both continents) are very far divergent. Edwards on the authority of Boisduval cites in his Catalogue, Sylvanus and Tages, and besides, also, comma as American; while he places Pamph.Juba, Manitoba, Colorado, Nevada and sylvanoides (which are regarded as good species by Scudder) as varieties of comma.

Euloncha oblinita Grote.

Larva, one specimen-Body black; a broad coral-red band on the back of each ring and a row of bright yellow blotches on the sides. The black ground color is variegated with White on the sides. On each ring are ten small warts, each of which bears about eight short, stiff, spreading brown spines, which sting severely when touched. Head roundish, coral-red, with two brown spots on the crown. Length when full grown, 1.4 inches. Feed on the smooth alder (Alnus serrulata). Changed to a pupa within a tough cocoon attached firm1y to a twig. Imago June 6.

I am indebted to Prof. A. R. Grote for the identification of this species, and to Dr. A. S. Packard, jr., for the following Geometrids.

Intermediate between Briseis and Meskei. Fore wings paler than Briseis, with the t. p. line more dentate, and the brown subterminal shade paler; sub-reniform open. Hind wings red like Meskei, the middle black band broader, interrupted, transverse and not like Briseis, where it is still broader, continned and rounded, not so straight across the wing. Beneath much like Briseis, with the black bands broader and the white interspaces narrower than in Meskei. The subterminal white dentate shade on the primaries above more dentate than in Briseis. This species is similarly sized with Briseis, and is best described comparatively with that species and Meskei. Sent me by Mr. Thomas E. Bean, under the number 574, from Illinois.