1!^ THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST, 



METJT^A PHAETON. 

 About the first of July I was informed by Mr, W, E. Saunders that 

 shortly before, when out on one of his Ornithological and Botanical 

 excursions, he had seen Melitcea phaeton, in a cedar swamp, two miles 

 from Komoka station, which is ten miles west of London, on the Grand 

 Trunk line. I took the first favourable opportunity of getting a sight of 

 that insect alive, which occurred on the ninth. I found the swamp, and 

 soon saw the butterflies disporting themselves in the sunny spots, seem- 

 ingly quite plentiful. They would not have been difficult to secure had 

 the footing been solid, but a previous heavy rain had set that afloat. I 

 took five, and saw quite as many more during the short stay I made in 

 the woods. J. Alston Mofkat. 



CORRESPONDENCE. 



petrophora silaceata. 



Dear Sir : At our recent annual gathering the Rev, T. VV, Fyles had 



brought with him a box of insects for the purpose of obtaining their 



names if he could. Amongst them was a Geometer, which I recognized 



as identical with one I have had for four years awaiting a name. When 



Captain Geddes arrived he also had another of the same kind amongst 



the material which he had brought. As no clue to its identity could be 



obtained from the authors we consulted, I thought the time had now 



arrived when we ought to know something about it, so I applied at 



headquarters for information, going into communication with the Rev. 



Geo. D. Hulst, who kindly returned my specimen with the name 



Petrophora silaceata, Hub. It proves to be an exceedingly interesting 



species, widespread and variable. Mr. Hulst mentioned that one of his 



specimens is from Labrador, sent to him by Moeschler. As I could not 



find the name in any of our N. A. catalogues, I turned to the European, 



and found it in Edward Newman's " Illustrated Natural History of 



British Moths " as Cidaria silaceata, Hub. It is therein illustrated by 



figures of six well defined varieties. Newman does not give any variety 



names, but Mr. Hulst determines my specimen to be " var. deflavata, 



Stdgr.," yet it is not identical with any of Newman's figures, although 



closely resembling the sjxth, which is one of the least ornate. Newman 



says : " The moth appears in May, and a second brood in August, and is 



regarded as common in England, Scotland and Ireland." 



London, Dec. i8th, 1891. J. Alston Moffat. 



