Hadena passer.

Mamestra passer Guen., Noct. I, 195.

Luceria loculata Morr., B. B. S. N. S., 2, 110.

I have received from M. Achille Gueneé an outline drawing of his Mamestra passer, and with the help of his description am enabled to make the above identification. The black marks tying the reniform to the t. p. line are variable, sometimes wanting; the color varies from pale reddish brown to dark brown ; the claviform is thick and usually solid, but sometimes open ; the lines are usually effaced, but sometimes quite noticeable ; the ornamentation is exceedingly simple. The eyes are naked, so that, with several other species referred by Gueneé to Mamestra, as I have previously shown, this form should be placed in Hadena.

On two occasions I have observed Allantus basilaris (Say) Nort. ♀ devouring another insect; in one instance the larva of a Chrysopa, in the other a small flower beetle of the genus Phalacrus. Although no such habit has been recorded previously in regard to any American species, it does not appear to be entirely without precedent among the European members of this family, for, according to Westwood, (Introd., ii., 109) “Various species, however, (T. viridis, scalaris, etc.) attack and devour living insects which frequent the same plants, as observed by St. Fargeau (Ann. Soc. Ent. France, 1834, p. 11) and Dahlbom (Prod. Hym. Scand., p. 38).”

During the season of 1878 I have found at this place, situated within two miles of the limits of Boston, some species of butterflies which are seldom found in this vicinity. On the 8th of October I obtained a nice specimen of C. eurytheme, which had probably left the chrysalis but a short time before.

I have in my note-books descriptions of one or more stages of several species, of which no part of the life-history has hitherto been published, and I propose, with the permission of the Editor, to give them in a series of three or four papers.

As our acquaintance with the numerous forms of this group increases the arbitrary division of the individuals into species and the species into genera becomes a matter of increasing difficulty. At the same time this does not absolve us from a careful study of the organism in all its parts, and a correction of former groupings becomes as obligatory as the publication of the original observation.

In the collection before me are the following species referred to Polia, but in the absence of a series of the European forms I am not clear that they are finally to be left in this genus. I have separated under the name of Pachypolia atricornis a stout and shaggy species, taken by my friend, Mr. Westcott, which has strongly pectinated antennæ, a character not accorded by Lederer to the European species, but one which is only doubtfully of generic value.

This pine-boring Pyralid was described by Prof. A. R. Grote in a paper read at the Nashville Meeting, 1877, of the American Assoc. for the Adv. of Science, and published in Canandian Entomologist, vol. ix., 161. During the summer and autumn of 1878, and again this year, I have made some observations upon the occnrrence, larval habits and parasitic enemies of this moth, and am able to state concerning them some additional facts of interest.

Dicopis vitis, n. s.

Imago—Length .50 of an inch. Expanse of wings 1.35 inches. Head, prothorax and thorax gray, the second tipped a little with light and containing a fine dark line. Abdomen yellowish gray. Color of primaries below a line running from the outside of the basal line on the costa to near the hind angle, light gray ; above this line dark gray, with a slight smoky tinge.

Many attempts have been made to devise something by means of which to capture the Noctuidae, but the results have been usually so meagre that the contrivances have been abandoned in disgust. I have been using a contrivance this season which will really abundantly repay one for the trifling trouble and expense involved in its construction.

Since my discovery of the mite found preying upon the eggs of the Orange Scale Insect (Aspidiotus Gloverii), I have been studying the insects found on the Orange tree, and my study has resulted in bringing to light many curious insects, of which I submit the following brief description. Those interested will find a full account of their habits in the Florida Agriculturist.

The neuration of this European species is as follows : Fore wings 12-veined, 8 out of 7 well beyond the extremity of the accessory cell, 9 out of 8, a comparatively short furcation to costa. Hind wings 8-veined, 5 weaker than the rest, joined to the weak cross-vein which closes the cell; this latter is comparatively shorter than in Spragueia, veins 3 and 4 longer.

Catocala sinuosa, n. s.

This species is allied to C. coccinata, but very distinct from that and all other described species. Fore wings whitish gray, paler, but lines much as in coccinata.

At the Hartford (1874) meeting of the Association, Mr. Riley described the newly-hatched larva of some of our common Blister-beetles; but all attempts to trace their habits had proved futile, both in this and other countries, until 1877, when he discovered that they preyed on the eggs of locusts (Acrididæ).

In a former article in the Canadian Entomologist I mentioned a large capture of the above moth in July, 1876 and '77. At the first I ran out of pins, and so had recourse to the time-honored practice of squeezing—when, lo! out of the hind segments there issued two plumes over an inch long and less than one-sixteenth in diameter, so light that the least breath of air fluttered them from side to side.

The paper relates to the development of one of the most singular and interesting of North American insects–the largest of the Order Neuroptera. In its perfect state this insect is a great, clumsy, nocturnal fly, popularly called Hellgrammite, and characterized by the jaws of the male being converted into a pair of long, curved, cylindrical and tapering prehensile organs, like the finger of a grain-cradle.

EGG–Shaped like that of Diana and Cybele; conoidal, truncated, rounded at base, the sides well rounded ; depressed at summit ; marked vertically by about 18 vertical ribs, somewhat wavy, half extending from base to summit, the remainder ending irregularly at about three-fourths the distance from the base ; between each pair of ribs are equi-distant, transverse, slightly raised striæ. Duration of this stage about 25 days.

Tamila velaris, n.s.

Thorax clothed with mixed scales and hairs. Middle and hind tibiæ armed. Fore tibiæ with a row of spines on each side, four in number, increasing in size to the end of the joint. Front full, thickly clothed with mossy scales. White ; with ochre shading.