THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 41 



Dr. Dietz records E. biptinctatus as occurring in Canada ; HubbarJ and 

 Schwarz, in Northern Michigan. 



Ant/ionomus musciilus. Say. and A. signatus,^z.y. — In 1831 Say pub- 

 lished in his Curculio, p. 15, a description of A. muscuius, and on p. 25 

 that of A. signatus, and from the descriptions it is evident he had before 

 him two distinct species. In Leconte and Horn's Rhyncophora, a species 

 is assigned to each name separated by definite characters ; and in Dr. 

 W. G. Dietz's elaborate revision of the tribe lately published, tTiese are 

 still more clearly defined. One of these species is of economic import- 

 ance, being occasionally exceedingly destructive to the cultivated straw- 

 berry. Owing to the diflficulties encountered in attempting to separate 

 them, some economic entomologists now solve the matter by uniting the 

 species, unfortunately, under the name of the one having typographical 

 precedence — muscuius. Prof. C. V. Riley devotes several pages in one of 

 the Government agricultural reports (1885, p. 276-282,) to the discussion. 



The true tnusculus is not very common here, and is usually found in 

 colonies on huckleberry blossoms — I have never taken a specimen on 

 anything else — and occurs here from the middle of May till the first of 

 June. Whole acres may be hunted over without obtaining a single 

 specimen. The individuals seem to vary only from degrees of maturity. 

 Say's description having been drawn from examples recently disclosed, 

 while his variety is the more mature. A. signatus, on the other hand, is 

 protean in colour and elytral ornamentation, so much so that judged by 

 this alone it might be divided into several species. It appears about the 

 first of June, and may be found more or less abundantly all summer. It 

 eats the leaves and blossoms of many species of trees and shrubs. I 

 have taken it abundantly on Tilea and Rhus, and it seems to have a 

 decided taste for certain Rosacei^ — notably, Rubus. 



Diligent search has several times been made in the fields of the 

 cultivated strawberry without finding any Ant/iono7nus, and efforts to 

 obtain the strawberry form from correspondents have equally failed. A. 

 signatus, however, is often seen on the leaves of the wild strawberry, 

 through which it eats holes like it does to the leaves of Rubus. Both 

 species may possibly depredate in strawberry plantations, but it would be 

 a wide departure for the true muscuius from any of its known habits. 



From the unanimity of systematists in maintaining the distinctness of 

 the species, it will be necessary for economic entomologists, if they care 



