254 ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. [December, 



number, while the other will have only one or two, in which case 

 the basal one is larger than usual. 



Mianis hispidulus Lee. Since Mr. Blanchard's statement, 

 made two or three years ago, that this insect bred in the seed- 

 pods of Lobelia inflata, no opportunity to examine this plant has 

 been lost, but the results have been negative. However, on the 

 ist and on the i5th of October I found L. syphilitica (blue car- 

 dinal flower), a rank plant growing in wet places, the seed cap- 

 sules or pods of which contained the larvae, pupae and beetles in 

 great abundance. This species of Lobelia flowers in a progres- 

 sively elongating raceme, each flower being in the axil of a leafy 

 tract; flowering begins in July at the base of the raceme, advan- 

 cing upwards till the plant is killed by frost, which here is some- 

 times late in October. Thus it happens that on- the same raceme 

 there may be at one time blossoms, green, ripe, and dehisced 

 capsules. Whether the first capsules contained beetles cannot 

 be asserted from knowledge, but this is probable, and that some 

 of these are the parents of the larvae and pupae in the later de- 

 veloped pods is quite likely. The beetles seem to leave the pods 

 for hibernation, or at least all which were in those kept in my 

 office for observation did so through a round hole cut near the 

 base,, though in the field nothing of this was seen. 



Cceliodes acephalus Say. As is known, this species occurs in 

 abundance during July on the evening primrose, Oenothera bi- 

 ennis, but no record of its breeding in the seed-pods has been 

 observed. I discovered a female employed in the act of oviposi- 

 tion about, the middle of July. A puncture had apparently been 

 made by the beak, and the beetle turning round inserted an egg 

 in the puncture which I obtained. No larvae, pupae, nor beetles 

 were found in the capsules October ist, from which it would ap- 

 pear pupation occurs in the earth. Was this oviposition acci- 

 dental ? 



Thinobius sp. Lovers of small things may be interested in 

 knowing that an undescribed species of this genus may be found 

 early in October in old leaves about decaying mushrooms. It 

 has yellow antennae and legs, and seems to differ from T. Jiari- 

 cornis Lee. by its smaller size, thorax rounded at base and the 

 evident lustre of the thorax and elytra. The first joint of the 

 anteniKi: is stout and long, the second as thick, but about one- 

 third the length, the third is attenuate at base and longer than the 



