1891.] ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. 13 



MR. C. \V. JOHNSON'S report of capture of Neonympha Milchcllii at 

 Dover, N. J., in rocky and hilly territory, leads me to make a correction 

 as to its habits in Michigan. When first found I took only a few speci- 

 mens, and all on a rather dry meadow, near a wet meadow and marsh. 

 Since then I find that they are much more common in the marshy portion 

 of the territory referred to. I have taken many specimens of Neonympha 

 Cant/ins, N. eurytris, N. sosybiiis and N. Mitchellii, the sosybins in 

 Florida and find Mitchellii much closer to sosybius in habits of flight 

 than to either of the others. It flies low, for short distances, in a weakly 

 manner, and is best started by beating up, or by walking rapidly and 

 noisily through the grass. Sosybius is stronger and quicker on the wing, 

 is a more "artful dodger," and flies a little farther. If there is more than 

 one brood of Mitchellii in a season, the last one begins to fly July ist. I 

 have taken it from July ist to loth. As far as I can tell it conies in quickly 

 and goes off the field rather abruptly after a short period of life. 



I. N. MITCHELL. 



DEVELOPMENT OF DIBOLIA /EREA. The habits of this little beetle ap- 

 pear to be familiar, but the following notes on its period of development 

 may be of interest: The larvae were found abundantly on Plantain (Plan- 

 tago major] at LeClaire, Iowa, about Aug. i, 1890. They make an open, 

 ing in the epidermis of the leaf which they enter, gradually eating their 

 way. Sometimes a larva makes a tunnel, then goes back and starts a 

 branch to it. If the leaf becomes too dry, some will leave and enter a 

 fresh one, but in ordinary cases they remain in their leaf until they are 

 ready to pupate. When full grown they are 3-4 mm. in length. The 

 period of pupation is fourteen days. Up to the twelfth day the pupa is 

 yellow, on that day a slight coloring of the eyes is noticed, the following 

 day the tarsi become black, and the fourteenth day the beetle appears, 

 becomes entirely black and begins to move about. Eight beetles lived 

 five days after emergence without food; after Plantain leaves were intro- 

 duced they ate freely. P. H. ROLFS, Ames, la. 



I HAVE observed this past season an unusual number of the larvae of 

 Sphinx qninqnemacnlata on the tomato vines. In the Summer of iSSi 

 they were a veritable pest in this locality, but since then they were scarce, 

 only an occasional isolated specimen being found until the late Summer, 

 when they were again abundant. The country people are very much 

 afraid of them, and one frequently hears extravagant tales of horrible 

 suffering from the effects of their sting. 



I find the observations made relative to the limited range of Satynts 

 a/ope (January number) corroboraU-d by my own knowledge of the spe- 

 cies in this locality as I have observed the same individuals in the same 

 locality until they died. 



On August i2th I took a larva of C. rega/is feeding on a plum tree; I 

 fed it plum leaves for a week when it pupated. This is, to me, a new 

 food-plant for C. regalis, as I have never found it on any thing but the 

 walnut. STEPHEN BALDY, Catawissa, Pa. 



