One day on my late visit to Ridgeway, a party of four went on an entomological excursion by boat to a place about four miles west, called Point Abino. After taking a survey of the situation and lightening our lunch basket, we went to work. Each had his specialty; one desired beetles, another butterflies. Seeing Myrmelion on the wing, I turned my attention to the Ant Lions. I did not succeed in securing many of them, for although the funnel-shaped pits of the nymphs were in surprising numbers, very few of the mature insects were to be seen, it being probably a little too early for them. I captured but four specimens, one obsoletus, and three of what was kindly determined for me by Dr. Hagen, of Cambridge, Mass., as Myrmelion abdominalis Say, whose figured-gauze wings are charming objects seen through a lens. The slight acquaintance I have with them has been acquired during my visits to Ridgeway, none of them having ever been seen about Hamilton so far as I know. Mr. J. Pettit secured an obsoletus while he was collecting at Grimsby, but I think he never got a second, although no doubt they were there to some extent, but probably very scarce. Fine loose sand is evidently a necessity of their existence in any locality, and I would suppose comparative seclusion; both of these they have in perfection at Point Abino.

On July 19th, 1881, a caterpillar of this moth was found on a cauliflower which had been brought from market, and was placed in a tumbler with some of the leaves. By the 21st it had shrunk considerably in size, and was greatly changed in appearance, the black and yellow markings that make this larva so conspicuous an object having faded to a dull whitish color. On the 22nd it was lying on the bottom of the glass and was revolving continuously. Under natural conditions it would, I believe, have entered the earth to go through its transformations, and the curious revolving motion might perhaps have been for the purpose of forming and smoothing its cell. On looking at it on the morning of the 23rd, a soft white flattened ichneumon larva had issued from it, and had commenced the construction of its coeoon by spinning a few white threads. By evening it had surrounded itself with a thin egg-shaped cocoon of a yellowish white color, through which the movements of the enclosed grub could be seen.

The fact that this species is a parasite in its larval state does not seem to be questioned, but that it is a parasite on one or more species of Isosoma is, I understand, doubted by some entomologists. For the past two years the writer has had no doubt that such was the case; but it is possible the evidence upon which such a conclusion is based may not be generally known. For this reason a brief summary of observations may not be out of place.

That it is a parasite on Isosoma hordei seems evident from the following: A single joint of rye containing several galls formed by Isosoma hordei was put into a bottle and corked up so that no insects could get out or in. In due course of time a specimen of E. Allynii was found in the bottle, and the hole from which it had gnawed its way out of one of the galls was plainly to be seen. Afterward the other galls gave forth I. hordei. In this case there could be no question but that the specimen of E. Allynii came from the gall made by I. hordei. If no hordei had hatched from the other galls, this would have been evident, for the galls made by this species are too characteristic to be mistaken by any one at all familiar with their work.

I visited Flushing, L. I., July 8th, to examine the insect reported to be infesting the noble old English elms which adorn the principal streets of that village. Three weeks ago these trees were in luxuriant foliage; they have now the appearance as if they had been scorched by fire. I discovered them to be attacked with a countless host of the larvae of this beetle. The American elm and other indigenous trees have thus far escaped, but it is not improbable, as this beetle is double brooded, that the numerous larvae will from force of circumstance attack them. The eggs are laid in clusters along the veins of the leaves, on their under sides. The larvae, as soon as hatched out, begin to devour the leaves, which they render lace-like, and when full fed they do not undergo transformation by fastening themselves to the surface of the leaves, as is the habit with other species, and as I have seen recorded of this, but transform within the crevices of the bark. At this time, July 8th, the trunks of the trees are covered with the larvae seeking places to transform, and there is scarcely a crevice of the bark but what is filled with the yellow pupal forms which will in a few days disclose the imagines.

Having been away from home the greater part of the summer, I regret that I have not been able to collect some of these beautiful beetles this season, so as to further observe the interesting relation between the varieties in number, as I should like to have done. I hope, however, that some one has made observations upon them, and will favor us with an account, which would, no doubt, be very acceptable to those interested in the genus.

Since contributing the first notes upon this subject, I have noticed that Say has described two varieties of C. sex-guttata in his monograph of the genus Cicindela, commencing on page 415, vol. ii., of the American Entomology, edited by LeConte. The first is.

Chrysomela scalaris Lec. The question asked by Dr. Hagen in the June number concerning the name of this insect, is more easy to answer than to arrive at a definite conclusion. Stal, in his monograph, did not recognise many of the genera into which Chrysomela had been divided; among them were Doryphora and Leptinotarsa. Finding that Olivier in 1807 had described a D. scalaris, and the Maj. LeConte in 1824 a Chrys. scalaris, Stal superseded the latter name by multiguttis. Recent authors are in accord in adopting many of the genera rejected by Stal, and the name originally given our species becomes valid and has been adopted by Jacoby (Biol. Cent. Am., vi, pt. i., p. 197, pl. xi., fig. 6). That the name should remain in future Calligrapha scalaris is fortunate, since we have lately received from Arizona a specimen of Calligrapha multiguttata Stal (in cab. Lec.), which is well figured in the work above cited, pl. x., fig. 5.

A friend of mine—Mr. R. J. Mendenhall, of Minneapolis, Minn.—while travelling in Mexico last winter, collected from a tree, supposed to be the wild olive, a number of the cocoons of some large Bombycid. On his return home he kindly gave these cocoons into my keeping, with the information that he could easily have collected hundreds had he had con veniences for carrying them, as the trees on which they were found had been ruinously defoliated by the insect in its larval state. The cocoons were about the size and somewhat resembled those of Telea polyphemus, but were rather more elongate and were not intermixed with the chalky substance seen on the surface of the latter. They depended from the twigs by bands or cords of silk from five to seven inches long.

In a late number of this journal, Mr. Hamilton makes some criticisms upon an article contributed by me to the January number, having reference to the transformations of this moth. That article was prepared having regard, as a matter of course, to the climate of this locality, and as the specimens referred to were developed in the one season, the question of variation of temperature was not under consideration. That the transformation of the pupa can be furthered or delayed by atmospheric conditions, is well established; a warm room developing the imago at an earlier period than natural, and an ice-house holding it in check over one season, to be developed when restored to the climatic influence of another. My point was, from facts ascertained by rearing in confinement, with surroundings as near natural as possible, that the period of pupation, whether early or 1ate, did not create an earlier or later development of the imago, which commonly occurred at the end of May. The history of the transformation of this moth under natural conditions, would be more satisfactory than that which results from rearing in confinement, and I regret that my town residence in winter denies me this study. That extraordinary seasons further or hinder the advent of insects, is undoubtedly true, but as a general rule their time-table is quite as exact as the migratory birds.

Trogoderma ornata. Since the publication of the remarks in vol. 15, p. 91, more has been learned concerning this pest. That it disclosed without entering the earth was eventually made evident by several of the beetles being found in a large, close box, just emerging. Why they should disclose in a large box and not in a small one was not very obvious. At last the thought occurred that hygrometric differences in food and atmosphere might account for it. Having some of the larvæ reared in a small wooden pill box, at the usual time for pupation some of these were placed in another box of the same size, and their food moistened. In a few days they were found to have pupated, the beetles emerging about ten days thereafter. Their companions left unmoistened in the other box never developed. This is sufficient demonstration. Their entering the ground to pupate is exceptional, and the inference that they do so normally is erroneous.

The above is the title of a very interesting paper which his Lordship had the kindness to send to me, and which was published in the Transactions of the Entomological Society of London for April, 1884.

This paper of 27 pages and one colored plate contains descriptions of 24 new species and one new genus (Pseudoconchylis), with copious notes on others. These insects were collected by Mr. H. K. Morrison in Mexico, Atizona, Montana, Wisconsin, North Carolina and Florida, and the paper is also of value in giving the distribution of many well known species.

His Lordship calls attention to the fact that Conchylis bimaculana Robs. is distinct from Hübner's Pharmacis sartana, although placed as a synonym in my Catalogue of the Tortricidæ. I had already reached the same conclusion from material which I received from Florida, but had not published the fact.