The third report of the U. S. Entomological Commission, Washington, 1883, contains an excellent paper on the Hessian Fly, by Prof. A. S. Packard, p. 195-248, and in the appendix, p. 3-49, the translation of German papers by Loew, Wagner, Cohn, Koeppen, formerly not known by the Professor; also a reprint of my paper in the Can. Ent., Oct., 1880, “The Hessian Fly not imported from Europe.” The Professor accepts now (p. 238): That the Hessian Fly had appeared in the Eastern U. S. before the Revolutionary War, and that it could not have been introduced by the Hessians. He was not able to find in the files of the Pennsylvania Mercury and Philadelphia Packet some reference to the earlier occurrence of the H. Fly (App. p. 3).

The name “Dagger Moths” is given to a group of white and gray Noctuidæ, or Owlet Moths, which, in the perfect state, possess a certain similarity in appearance, but are often quite dissimilar as caterpillars, not only among themselves, but as compared with the other Noctuidæ, with which Family they are classified. The name itself alludes to a black mark which many of the species show near the internal angle of the fore wings, which resembles a dagger, or the Greek letter Psi. The caterpillars are often ornamented with curious hairs or bristles; several are shaggy in appearance, so that they look like Arctiadœ or Dasychirœ. This peculiarity is shared, however, by other genera such as Platycerura and Charadra, which I classify with them as a subordinate Group of the Noctuidæ under the name of Bombycoidœ, or perhaps more properly, Apatelinœ.

On 20th June, 1884, I found on edge of leaf of an Aspen, P. tremuloides, a young larva of species of Nisoniades unknorvn. A small bit of the leaf was cut on two sides perpendicular to the edge, folded over and stitched down. At a little distance from this shelter a hole was eaten in the leaf. Two days later the hole was enlarged and the larva evidently had left its nest and returned to it after feeding. On 27th June one moult was passed, supposed to be the first; on 5th July a second; on 16th July a third. This was the last moult, but I am not sure that one did not take place between the 5th and 16th. It is probable there were four moults, as N. Lucilius is reported by Prof. Lintner to moult four times. The larva was kept in a jelly glass, and being always concealed in a leaf, a moult might have escaped me.