2 ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. [January, 



The young larva when first hatched are also almost invisible, 

 and, even after the first moult, look only like a small, colorless 

 aphis on the leaf. The third moult shows a lilac mark in the 

 centre of the dorsum increasing with the growth, until the last 

 moult, when it resembles a rude maltese cross, of a pinkish or 

 purplish brown, surrounded by a yellow border with a central 

 square dot on the elipse-shaped pea-green larva. 



The food-plants are the chestnuts, both horse and Castania, 

 visca, English and wild cherry, oak, basswood, and probably 

 other trees, as most of the Limacodes are very general feeders. 

 On wild cherry the larvae take from eight to ten weeks to come 

 to their growth; on chestnut a somewhat shorter period, but it 

 depends on what may be the heat or cold more than the food- 

 plant. I have usually fed the larva on wild cherry, as it is not 

 infested with aphides, and during the long period of growth from 

 egg to cocoon it does not require so much time and attention to 

 keep the food-plant clean and sweet. The larvae spin their co- 

 coons about September 5th to 2oth, a small, roundish, brown, 

 pod-like cocoon, with the usual lid of the Limacodes, and the 

 moths hatch the following season from the 8th to the 25th of July, 

 almost always in the afternoon, and remain hanging from the lid 

 or side of the cage, until between half past eight or nine o'clock 

 in the evening, when the males begin to seek their mates. Isa 

 textula hangs with its abdomen curled over its back after the 

 manner of Pterophora diversilineata. 



Reading recently a number of the English monthly, " The En- 

 tomologist's Record," I was greatly interested in an account of 

 "assembling," and never having seen the process described be- 

 fore in any of our journals, I will describe my method, which I 

 hope may prove of interest, as the habits of the Limacodes seem 

 to be so little known. I use a large gauze-wire cage about 20 x 

 15 inches, and 1 8 or 20 inches high, a door in the front and back, 

 and painted a dark red or green, and place the newly-hatched 

 female textula therein. About 8.30 P.M. I station myself by the 

 cage with a glass tumbler and piece of pasteboard and watch for 

 the males to come. If the Limacodes is a common one, like E. 

 stimulea, P. fraterna, or .S. inornata, there will usually be a score 

 or more of males suddenly appearing, fluttering about the cage, 

 always settling on the top or side, where the 9 is resting, hust- 

 ling each other with their wings and endeavoring to reach the 



