This destructive insect appeared in great force during the past season in many parts of our Province, doing much damage to the foliage of raspberry plants. Although in form and habits the larva of this insect much resembles the currant worm, it is not nearly so well known, nor is it usually so promptly recognized. There are several reasons for this. The raspberry saw-fly does not appear in such flocks as the currant worm, because the eggs are laid singly and not often near together; nor is the larva easily detected owing to the fact that in color it so exactly resembles that of the leaf on which it feeds.

Egg.—Globular, a little flattened at base, smooth; color orange yellow. Duration of this period, 24 days.

Young Larva.—Length .08 of an inch. Color pale brownish green. Head and a small cervical shield jet black. Each segment has about six blackish tubercles from which arise rather long gray hairs, the dorsal tubercles on segments 5 and 12 a little more prominent than the others. Duration of this period, 3 days.

After First Moult.—Length .14 of an inch. Color pale yellowish green. Head black, as also a plate and a small spot on the top of the second segment. To each segment six purplish black slightly tubercular spots; those on the dorsum faint except those on 5 and 12, which are prominent, each pair confluent; a few hairs from each spot. Thoracic feet black. Duration of this period, 4 days.

1. Oligotoma Cubana, n. sp.

Olyntha? spec. larva. Hag. Synops. Neur. N. Amer., p. 7.

Olyntha Cubana, larva, imago, Hag. Psoc. Embid. Synops. Verh. Wien. Z. B. Gesell. 1866, p. 221, 223 (no description).

Olyntha Cubana, McLachl. Linn. Soc. Jour. Zool., vol. xiii., p. 381.

Male, dry. Length of body about 8 mill.; exp. of wings about 12 mill. Head light brown, little longer than broad, narrowed behind the eyes, convex above, without any impression, rounded at the sides, cut straight near prothorax; labrum large, paler, rounded; antennæ pale brown (only 13 joints present); 1st large, cylindrical; 2nd very short, as long as broad; 3rd as long as 1st, thinner, somewhat thicker at tip; all following similar but a little shorter; antennæ and head densely clothed with very pale hairs; maxillary palpi 5-jointed, pale brown, apical joint long, conical; labial palpi small; tip of mandibles black.

Xylophagus decorus, n. sp.

♀. Length 13 mm. Black, legs yellow. Front convex, but little shining, thinly brownish dusted. Antennæ black, the tip of first joint and the second more reddish brown; elongate, the first joint rather longer than the distance from the insertion to the ocelli. Proboscis black Dorsum of thorax shining on the sides, in the middle with two broad brownish pollinose stripes, separated by a shining linear space. Pleuræ shining black. Abdomen blackish brown, shining. Legs, including the coxæ, reddish yellow, the tips of all the tarsi black. Wings nearly hyaline, a broad brownish band, near the middle, narrowed and evanescent posteriorly, the outer cross-veins clouded and the outer part of the wing cinereous.

One specimen, Washington Territory (H. K. Morrison). The abdomen probably varies in depth of color.

Length .50 of an inch, elliptical, as is the usual shape of the Lymacodes group, nearly .20 of an inch high and about the same width. The dorsum has four lines of purplish black alternating with white, and bordered outside with yellowish white or pale yellow. The region of the subdorsal line is a bright vermillion ridge with yelrowish white tubercles arising from joints 2, 3, 4, 7, 10 and 12, those on joint 2 moderately short, but those on joints 4 to 12 are nearly one fourth of an inch long; all of them spiny. There are short bunches of spines on the intervening joints, as it were representatives of missing tubercles. In the subdorsal space are four scarlet lines alternating with lines of yellowish white, the middle yellowish line instead of being continuous, consists of alternate blotches of vermilion and yellowish white. The substigmatar line is vermilion, bordered as the subdorsai with pale yellow, and this also has its row of yellowish white spiny tubercles, each about one sixteenth of an inch long. Below this is a single dark purple line bordered each side with a lighter shade, and below this a vermilion line or rather a series of tubercles without spines in place of the prolegs. Legs 6, no prolegs, but the under side of the body consisting of a muscular pad upon which the insect glides along instead of walking. Head brown, retractile when at rest into the joint back of it.

Mr. W. L. Courtis, in 1883, sent me many eggs of this species, laid by females confined with Sedum. All the butterflies were of the variety Hermodur, H. Edw., the females being very black. I related Mr. Courtis's observations in Papilio III., p. 158. The eggs were forwarded to Dr. H. S. Jewett, Dayton, Ohio, in default of ice here, and were placed in an ice box in that town, and so remained till late in Jan., '84. I received them 28th. Two days after, several of the eggs were found to have hatched, the day being warm, 55° Far. at noon. I gave the larvæ leaves of our wild Sedum, and also of some cultivated sorts that I had brought together for the purpose. Three days later the wild leaves were noticed eaten or nibbled a little, the other sorts not all. In former years, at least twice, I had had these larvæ out of egg, and they refused our Sedum and starved. In the present case, little holes were eaten on the upper side of leat half way through the fleshy part. Several larvæ died speedily, but a few did well. On 5th Feb'y, two were visibly stouter than the rest. On 6th, I happened on some larvæ feeding, this time at the edges of the leaves. On 8th, the two largest began to swell at second segment; on 10th, one of these died in the effort to moult, the time from the egg being 11 days. On 12th, the other larva passed 1st moult, at 13 days. On 15th, a third passed same moult; next day another, and I was fortunate in seeing the process.

EGG.—Conical, the base flattened, the top rounded; ribbed vertically, the ribs being either 8 or 9 in number; these rise from the surface at about one third distance from base, increase in elevation graduaily, and end at the summit about the little flattened space which contains the micropyle, with its rosette of minute reticulations; the ribs meet the summit at an angle of about 45°; in the last part of their course they are thin, and are grooved on both sides to the surface; between them are many fine horizontal striæ; color green. Duration of this stage probably 4 or 5 days.

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 very extensive collection of galls from the U. S. presented to the Museum in 1870 by Baron von Osten Sacken, contains all his types. There are 138 different galls of Cynipidæ, gall flies 56 species, guest flies 23 species, parasites 66 species, and from Dr. Reinhard 38 types of European Cynipidæ. Further galls of other insects 121 species (Diptera 70, Hemiptera 30, etc.); the types of B. D. Walsh, galls of Salix, 13 species. To these were later added by the Baron his types of Colorado galls, 12 species, and those of California, 15 species. The permanent aim to enlarge this excellent collection has met with success. The prominent additions from Europe are 88 species from Mr. Brischke, in Danzig, Prussia, and 96 types of oak galls from Prof. G. Mayr, in Vienna, Austria, and 18 types of mite galls from Dr. Thomas. The additions of N. Am. galls are very numerous; prominent among them are large additions from California, Washington Terr., and Mexico.

In the preceding volume of the Entomologist (vol. xvi., p. 186) an account is given of some of the Coleoptera found in September on Brigantine Beach, N. J.; and having been there this season from the 1st till the 18th of the same month, I propose to give a further account of some of the insects inhabiting that region.

Cicindela dorsalis Say is found in great abundance on the shore between the lines of high and low tide, keeping as close to the water as it can get. If too closely pursued it frequently takes wing, alighting in the surf and coming to the shore in the foam, from which it usually escapes before it can be taken. It is sluggish in its movements, running about a yard, then stopping, and so on alternately, and flying only when pursued, and then for but short distances. More than two-thirds of the females captured want either a part of an antenna or of a hind leg, these mutilations occurring on the right side in a large majority.

17. Embia (Olyntha) Mülleri, n. sp.

Wingless form, female? dry. Length of body 12 mill.

Body large, stout, black, very sparingly clothed with yellow hairs; shining, the head alone semi-opaque. Head large, flat, scarcely longer than broad, a little narrowed to the occiput; hind angles rounded; a shallow impression above with a short longitudinal engraved line; eyes black, small, not prominent; antennae only 21 joints present, which are as long as head, pro- and mesothorax; black, with yellow hairs, the 10 last joints strongly polished; 1st stouter, cylindrical; 2nd short, annular; 3rd cylindrical, as long as first; 4th and fifth very short; the rest successively longer, nearly pyriform, the last ones about ovoid. Epistom half as long as broad, sides rounded, front margin widely notched; labrum large, a little narrower at base, front margin rounded and a little yellowish, as well as the sides of the epistom; max palpi dark brown, villous, stout, compressed, the three basal joints short, equal, 4th longer, obliquely truncated at tip, 5th a little longer and larger, ovoid; labial palpi compressed, broad, 1st very short, 2nd about as long as broad, 3rd longer, the broad apex rounded.

The transformation of a grovelling worm to the glory that attaches to the winged aspirant of the heavens, has won for this insect from remote antiquity the appellation of Spirit or Soul, as typical of the resurrected human body. There is, I think, good reason to believe that the root meaning of the word Butterfly dates back to early Egyptian history, and as a hieroglyphic it is synonymous as representing the qualities of completeness and perfection which characterize the soul. I have supposed that it might serve the interest of this journal to record such historical gleanings bearing upon this subject as have come within my reach. It is said that in Yorkshire in England, the country folk call the night-flying white moths, Souls. This restricted application of the term very forcibly expresses what had been traditionally received by these people, and which they unwittingly have applied to certain white winged species. The English word Moth is said to be the Egyptian MUT or MAT. MAT is to pass; MUT to die; MATT, unfold, unwind, open, as the chrysalis entered the winged state and passed. The winged thing was a symbol of the Soul; it appears in the hieroglyphics as the Moth or Butterfly.

Many of the species of coleoptera have been described from single, or, at the most, two or three specimens; these often imperfect, immature, or with individual peculiarities. Owing to this, those who undertake to determine their insects by descriptions, even allowing a wide latitude of interpretation, are frequently in doubt and uncertainty. Where families and genera have passed through recent monographic review, the re-description of the species from better preserved or more abundant material usually obviates the difficulty, but enough still remain to give trouble.

Among these, the ones here introduced seem deserving of notice, as some further description is necessary for their identification without having recourse to friendly aid.

On 13th Sept., 1884, I received from Mr. James Fletcher 22 larvæ in hibernation, part of a lot sent him shortly before by Rev. Geo. W. Taylor, of Victoria, V. I. The larvæ, on exposure to the light, moved about, but refused to eat Chelone glabra. I placed them in cellar, and in October forwarded to Clifton Springs, N. Y., with larvæ of other species, to go in the “cooler.” On 7th March, I received them again, ancl found about one half to be alive. These I put in the ice house till I could get leaves of the food-plant. In last days of April they were brought to the house and given Chelone, the living larvæ now being reduced to six. On the third day, I noticed that the leaves had been eaten, and three or four days later the larvæ looked healthy and had recovered the length and diameter which they had on 13th Sept., larvæ always shrinking much during hibernation.

At the recent meeting of the Entomological Club of the A. A. A. S., Dr. Horn found occasion to say that “natule has no genera, but species only”—genera are mere artificial aids to classification, are seldom sharply defined, and are of very unequal value, according as the student is inclined to value characters; nor are the same characters useful in all the orders, nor indeed in the several families in the same order.

The important part of Dr. Horn's remarks, for the present purpose, is the assertion that “nature has no genera.” That Dr. Horn has an experience in American Coleoptera large enongh to render such an observation from him of great weight, no one will dispute, and taking the Lepidoptera into consideration I am led by my studies to agree with him thoroughly.

As I have stated (p. 90, May, 1885), I had made inquiry of Dr. Anton Dohrn about the existence of the Hessian Fly around Naples, Italy. His kind answer, together with interesting notes by Dr. Paul Mayer, gives the following information.

From the two old books quoted by Sir J. Banks (p. 88), Corti is not represented in the library at Naples. Ginnani (Dr. Giuseppe Fatta writes Giannini), Part ii., cap. lx., p. 127-209, gives: “Osservazioni ed esperienze particolari intorno all'infestamente degli insetti.” He speaks in this chapter on several flies which attack the grain, among them one which attacks the roots, but his statements do not allow us to decide with certainty whether some of the flies belong to Cecidomyia. Dr. P. Mayer draws my attention to another work which was entirely unknown to me; the copies published are all lithographed: “A. Costa.—Lezioni di Entomologia agraria precedute da un quadro generale della classi del regno animale raccolte ed autografate degli alumni M. Pilato e M. Montanari. Portici R. Scuola Superiore d'Agricoltura 1880, 4to., pg. 528, pl. 9.”

Nemeophila Selwynii, n. sp.

Head, thorax and abdomen, dull sooty black. Palpi, collar and tip of abdomen pale dull orange. Tegulæ, sides of abdomen and upper side of the tip of antennæ sordid white. Wings dull sooty black. At base of primaries a very distinct and clearly marked short white streak, and an oblique band (also cream white) from behind the middle of the costa to near the internal angle. This band, which is excavated at its junction with the cell, gradually narrows to a point as it reaches the outer margin. The fringe is white on the apical half of the margin, black elsewhere, and there is a small orange dash at the base of the costa. Secondaries wholly sooty black, fringe white, a little below the apex. Beneath the wings have a slate-colored shade, the markings of the upper surface repeated, the costa of primaries stained with orange at the base and at the edge of the white oblique band, while that of the secondaries has two whitish triangular blotches.

There is in the study of Entomology a fascination and delight that captivates the imagination, and renders the enthusiast liable to construct theories based upon such slender foundations that they fail to reach the dignity of assured facts. This, I think, may be said of much that has been written concerning the habits of this beetle. The record which I have thought proper to make relates to veritable facts, but whether in the particular instance referred to they are to be regarded as extraordinary and not of common occurrence, may be a problem yet to be solved. I trust that in offering this paper I may not be thought presumptuous in differing with so distinguished Entomologists as Drs. Harris and Fitch, yet as my observations do not bear out the conclusions which they have reached, and apprehending that the best interests of the science are served by that record or enquiry which relates to the discovery of facts, I make no apology to these fathers in the science for transcribing in relation to this subject views somewhat dissimilar to theirs.