With this I give the first coat to the

the consistence of thick cream. cork, rubbing the stuff with my hand well into the little holes of the cork until these are all closed up. As soon as dry I give it another coat, using the white wash somewhat thinner, and apply with a brush.

Since using it I have never found a single specimen of the tiny paper louse in my cabinet, while prior thereto these pests gave me a good deal of trouble. Anthrenna also give me hardly any trouble, as their places of retreat, the cracks and worm holes in the cork, are entirely covered up with the zinc.

If applied carefully it will have just as even an appearance as paper, and the white will keep fresher and cleaner than paper. Give it a trial. EDW. L. GRAEF, Brooklyn, N. Y.

DEAR SIR,

ERRATUM, ETC.

P. 59, vol. 1o, line 17, for Euprepia judica read Euprepia pudica. During the latter days of March I saw Pieris rapæ in considerable numbers at Asheville, N. C.; and on April 2nd I saw many scores of Æthilla bathyllus S. & A., near the same place, the elevation of the spot being between 4,000 and 5,000 feet. These were playing around damp places by the road side. I was informed by the farmers that Doryphora 10-lineata had never yet appeared there.

W. V. ANDREWS, Brooklyn, N. Y.

DEAR SIR,

A scientific friend who attended the last monthly meeting of the Entomological Society in Boston, wrote to me the next day of a very interesting communication made by Dr. Packard on the exodus of a luna moth. He "heard a rustling in the cocoon and a curious cutting sound, and saw two black points sticking out, which worked back and forth, cutting the silk until a slit was made large enough for the moth to crawl through. Then he discovered that the black points were two spines on the submedian nerve of the fore wings. As the wings expand these spines become covered with the wing scales and do not show." Dr. Packard said these spines exist in nearly all the Bombycidæ, but he did not find that this use of them had been mentioned in any of the treatises to which he had time to refer, it being supposed that moths work their way through the silk, first softening it by a liquid exuded from the mouth.

The information received I brought before the Montreal Branch of the Ontario Entomological Society, and it caused some surprise, as members had never heard of the process. During the evening the President, Mr. G. J. Bowles, exhibited a Polyphemus moth just out of chrysalis, which got away and flew into the gas, so burning itself that it had to be killed. The moth was examined, and close to the base of each fore wing a spine was found, quite long and sharp, which could certainly be used by the insect for scratching and tearing the silk of the cocoon so as to facilitate the egress of the moth. The inside of the cocoon at the opening seemed to bear marks of its work. This discovery has excited quite an interest among our members, and we await the opinion of other Entomologists on the subject.

JOHN G. JACK, Montreal.

DEAR SIR,

During last summer we were visited by an insect which attacked our White Pine trees (Pinus strobus). I refer to Abbot's White Pine Worm, Lophyrus Abbotii, a gregarious worm of some note in the south and west. I have not seen it noticed by any of our Canadian Entomologists, and consequently do not know whether it is a common insect in this country or not; but I do know that should it become very numerous it would shortly be a very heavy blight on our White Pine, either in grove or forest growth. I have not yet seen any on the imported pines, such as the Scotch and Austrian; indeed the insect seems tenaciously to prefer our native species, probably because of its soft and tender foliage. It appeared here in July and August (I neglected to note the exact date), but in such flocks that they soon defoliated the branches on which they were working, and were thus easily detected. When nearly full grown these saw fly worms measure from three-fourths to one inch in length, are heavily marked by black spots on a dull whitish ground, and have the habit of bending the fore part of their bodies backwards on being approached or disturbed. According to Prof. Riley, the parent saw fly deposits her eggs on the slender leaves of the pine in autumn, where they remain in the egg state all winter, hatching early in summer. The remedies recommended for this pest are hand-picking, the use of dry air-slacked lime or powdered hellebore mixed with water and sprinkled on the affected parts. B. GOTT, Arkona, Ont.

DEAR SIR,

As correspondence is invited respecting the habits, localities, occurrence, etc., of insects, I take the liberty to offer a few remarks on the Doryphora 10-lineata, and also to send you a list of the Geometride that I have thus far taken in this locality.

Wishing to ascertain if the domestic fowl were likely to be of any value in reducing the numbers of D. 10-lineata, I procured the assistance of a neighbor who kept fowl (I do not keep them myself), and the following is the result of our experiments :

Our first experiment was to offer both larvæ and beetles to the fowl, but they refused to touch them, and acted as if somewhat, afraid. Next we mixed the insects with the corn and other food that was given them, but they refused even to eat the corn for a time; by-and-by, however, they began to eat the corn and soon lost all fear of the insects, although they still refused to eat any. After a few days, by keeping the insects in their food all the time, some of the bravest of the hens began to eat a few insects, and it was not long before the rest joined them, and in a few days more they appeared to relish the beetles about as well as the corn. to this time I did not observe any of the fowls eat a beetle from the potato vines, but they now began to do so, and we were obliged to put them in their food no longer. After this the beetles were so reduced in number in this garden that they did no material damage.

Up

It would seem from the above that although the beetles were naturally repugnant to the domestic fowl, yet an appetite for them may be acquired. If the substance of the above has been published I was not aware of it, and give it for what it is worth.

I noticed in the last report of the Entomological Society of Ontario, in the experiments on the Colorado Potato Beetle, by W. Brodie, the remark that "it is very doubtful if Doryphora, either in the larva or imago state, will feed on Solanum dulcamara or Datura stramonium." I have found the insect in both these stages plentifully on S. dulcamara, which grows quite abundantly near this place, and they wholly consumed both leaves, flowers and fruit of every plant in this vicinity. They were more abundant on these plants than on my potato plants, which were not more than five rods from some of the former.

I took a few examples of Brephos infans Mos., March 23rd, which is some two weeks earlier than I ever made a capture of them before.

J. E. BATES, South Abington, Mass.

VOL. X.

LONDON, ONT., JUNE, 1878.

No. 6

THE ACHEMON SPHINX-Philampelus achemon Drury.

BY THE EDITOR.

The Achemon Sphinx is not common in Ontario; occasionally, but rarely, we have found the larva both on the Grape-vine and Virginia Creeper (Ampelopsis quinquefolia), and once or twice captured the perfect insect.

The moth (fig. 4) is a handsome one, and having the usual strong and rapid flight of the Sphinges, is not easily captured. It may be met with on the wing late in June, about dusk, hovering like a humming-bird over flowers and sipping their sweets through its long proboscis. Its color is brownish-gray, variegated with light brown, and with the dark spots

shown in the figure of a deep brown. The hind wings are pink with a dark shade across the middle, a few still darker spots below, and with the hind margin widely bordered with gray.

The caterpillar (fig. 5) is a formidable looking creature, measuring when full grown, if at rest, about three inches, but when in motion three

and a half inches.

a

Fig. 5.

They feed singly, and hence, when young, do not attract much notice, but as they mature they consume enormous quantities of food, so that a single specimen will in a short time render long branches of the vine entirely leafless. This larva varies much in color; when young it is usually green, with a long, slender, reddish horn rising from the last segment but one, and curving backward, but after each moult this horn gradually lessens in size until, as it approaches maturity, it disappears entirely, its place being occupied by a polished tubercle. When full grown the general color is sometimes green, but more frequently a pale straw or reddish-brown, deepening in color at the sides, and finally merging into a rich brown; there is also a broken line of brown along the back, and another unbroken, with its upper edge fading gradually along each side. It has six scalloped, cream-colored spots on each side, and the body is covered more or less with minute spots, which are dark on the back, but light and annulated at the sides. There are also from six to eight transverse wrinkles on all but the thoracic and caudal segments. The head, anterior segments and spiracles incline to flesh color, the prolegs and caudal plate deep brown. The largest segment in the body of the larva is the third behind the head, and into this, when at rest, is usually withdrawn the head and two anterior segments as shown in the figure.

When full grown and about to transform to a chrysalis, the color of the caterpillar often changes to that of a beautiful pink or crimson. It then descends to the ground and burrows underneath, and there undergoes its transformation to the pupa state within a smooth cavity.