Jan., '06] ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. 33 



be also, he put the article in the NEWS. Miss Soule has a love 

 for natural history and her endeavor to find out the distribution 

 of the stemmed and stemless cocoon is most praiseworthy. She 

 gives her experience with cocoons in Eastern New York, Massa- 

 chusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont, and the pith of the whole 

 matter is in the concluding paragraph on page 175 of vol. xvi. We 

 are not greatly troubled by Dr. Dyar's remarks on "The condition of 

 editorial responsibility," as the success of the NEWS shows. We pub- 

 lish in the NEWS what we think of interest to its readers, and the assump- 

 tion that everything is new and that if it is not it is due to ignorance 

 of the facts on the part of the editors is preposterous. We don't live 

 on ice water. We were also aware that the life history of Harrisimennia 

 trisignala had been studied by a number of entomologists, but as the 

 article on that subject interested our readers and brought valuable com- 

 ment we are also satisfied on that score. Our space is too valuable and 

 limited to publish a bibliography with each article. H. S. 



T. Polyphemus COCOONS. In answer to my question about the forms 

 of polyphemus cocoons, I have had many interesting letters whose reports 

 I give briefly. 



From Massachussetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut and Vermont " no 

 stems " were reported ; " never heard of one with a stem " being added 

 more than once. 



Delaware, New York, and Pennsylvania report both forms, sometimes 

 one given as predominating, sometimes the other. 



One collector in New Jersey gives figures : out of 20,000 cocoons but 

 200 had stems. 



Missouri has both forms according to two collectors ; all stems, accord- 

 ing to one, all stems except one specimen, according to another. 



Indiana all stems except one specimen 



Ohio all stems, " even when spun in a cage," one student writes. 



From Canada a small percentage of stems is reported, and this form is 

 thought, by two persons, to be made by diseased or parasitized larvae 

 in Canada. 



Cocoons with stems, sent me from the West, gave superb moths, but 

 two similar ones gave parasites, indicating that these have no connection 

 with the form of cocoon. 



Of course, these reports are not enough to justify any theory, and the 

 reports from any state might be balanced by the experience of collectors 

 who have not sent any information, so there is nothing final reached. 



One interesting fact was given. A collector wrote that the form with 

 stems was always found on maples on the streets of towns, while the 

 stemless form was found in the woods, either on the ground or spun 

 against the trunk or branch of a tree. The same difference was noted by 

 two other persons, one of whom Miggested that the susp'-iiMon might be 

 because in the streets the leaves on the ground were cleared away in the 

 autumn. CAROLINE GRAY SOULE. 



