i. 



216 The Ottawa Naturalist. [March 



MEETING OF THE ENTOMOLOGICAL BRANCH. 



The first of the winter's series of meetings of the Ent*^ 

 mological Branch was held at the residence of Mr. Arthur 

 Gibson, on the evening of the 10th February. There Vvere 

 present: Messrs. Harrington, Wilson. Criddle, Baldwin, Young, 

 Halkett and Nicholls, in addition to the Chairman. > 



Mr. Gibson had on exhibition his collection of arctiid motlis / 



of the genus A pantesis. He spoke at some length on the different 5 



species and varieties represented in the cases and told of his *? 



work in studying their life-histories. Specimens of the inflated i 



larvae and pupae of many of the species were also shown. The 

 range of variation in the genus is remarkable, and has been the 

 cause of much confusion by some of the earlier writers who had 

 but few specimens to study. The larger number of the specimens 

 in the cases exhibited had been reared from eggs. At Ottawa 

 the following species of this genus have been found: virgo, 

 parlhenice , virguncula, figiirata, ceiia, arge and vittaia. 



Mr. Norman Criddle showed a collection of Tiger Beetles 

 from Manitoba. Thirteen species were represented m the case, 

 most of which had been found at Avveme, Man. Mr. Criddle -,. 



spoke particularly of the burrov'ing habits of the larvas and '^^ 



on the life-histories of the insects in general. He has found 'i% 



that in Manitoba some of the species take at least three vears *^ 



to coiTiplete their life-cvcle, whereas at Chicago, it has been -J'^, 



found by Prof. Shelford, that the same species onlv required -^i 



two years to complete their growth. The habits of cicindelid f'^- 



larvae are exceedinglv interesting. In Manitoba there is much 

 difference in the depth to which the larva? burrow for hiber- 

 nation. Some species such as limhata and repanda only go down 

 to a depth of six or eight inches, while others, as manitoba and 

 lepida go much deeper; the former sometimes being found six 

 and a half feet below the surface, and the,.latter six feet. 



Mr. A. Nicholls brought two specimens for determination. 

 These were Thalessa lunator and Corydalis cornuia. Mr. Harring- 

 ton spoke of the habits of both of these insects. Referring to 

 the latter species Mr. Gibson mentioned that both he and the 

 late Dr. Fletcher had found it "at sugar" commonly, some years 

 ago. It is unusual for a neuropterous insect to be attracted 

 at night to trees on which "sugar" is put to allure noctuid 

 moths. Speaking of attracting moths, Mr. Criddle mentioned 

 that at Aweme the males of the Buck Moth, Hemileuca maia, 

 var. lucina, can easily be attracted by smoke. In the sand hills 

 near Aweme, where the moth is usually abundant, both he and 

 his brothers had frequently made smudges of leaves and grass 



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