1896.] ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. 15 



definition that has probably been derived from the description of the larva? 

 of the genus Chrysopa, viz., " Their larvae are useful in destroying plant- 

 lice." Although little is known of the larvae of the genus Chrysops, it is 

 certain that this statement is incorrect. Like other members of the family 

 Tabanidae they are carnivorous, and live in damp earth. The larvae of 

 many of the Tabanids are subaquatic. C. W. JOHNSON. 



FOOD-PLANT AND LARVA OF NATHALIS IOLE Bdv. In Mr. Osborn's 

 interesting notes of the Rhopalocera of Tennessee, he writes of N. io/e, 

 "food-plant unknown." Permit me to give this information: The eggs 

 are laid on the "Fetid Marigold," Dysodea chrysanthemoides Lag., a 

 very ill-scented annual with yellow flowers. The eggs hatch in three days 

 (the quickest of any butterfly eggs I am acquainted with); they are tall 

 and slender like the eggs of Colias, but smoother. The mature larva is 

 shaped like that of oleracea, but has two bristle tipped projections in 

 front of second segment, the surface of body is also covered with stiff 

 hairs arising from pale green tubercles, color of head and body dark 

 :green, with broad, purple-black dorsal stripe, and two fine lines of yellow 

 and black along the spiracles; duration of larval period ten to thirteen 

 days; the pupa is .38 in. long, slender, the abdomen tapering, head-case 

 produced, rounded bluntly at top, and rounded at sides; mesonotum 

 rather prominent, the top narrow, but not carinated; color of dorsum and 

 all the abdomen yellowish green, dotted thickly with yellow-white, ven- 

 tral sides of wing-cases dark green; duration of pupa stage six to eight 

 days. In Colorado there are several broods in the year, the last hiber- 

 nating in pupa state, but frequently the frosts in September will destroy 

 the plants and whole colonies of half-grown larvae, and the insect is not 

 seen in the same locality again for a year or two. DAVID BRUCE. 



Thecla sheridanii Edw. This pretty species was first taken in Mon- 

 tana, near the Yellowstone, and described by Mr. Edwards in " Field and 

 Forest" in 1877. I believe the type remained unique until 1890, when I 

 turned up a few examples near Palmer Lake, Colorado. I have taken 

 one or two specimens every year since. I also detected it in a small col- 

 lection made near Denver by my friend, Mr. E. Oslar, of Colorado Springs, 

 and Prof. Gillette has met with it near Fort Collins. It is a small species, 

 dark grayish brown on upper sides, the under sides of all wings a dark, 

 yet rich green, with a very distinct common white line cut into spots by 

 the veins and edged inwardly with black; it occurs in April and July, and 

 frequents low flowers in grassy slopes and meadows. Mr. Strecker, in 

 his "Synonymic List," has devoted twelve lines to an amusing critique 

 of the trivial name of this insect, which, however, he failed to spell cor- 

 rectly. DAVID BRUCE. 



I WOULD like to ask two questions to be answered through subscribers 

 to the ENT. NEWS: What is the best way to kill and preserve Coleoptera 

 and to pack them away for mailing without mounting them ? What is the 

 best and surest remedy for snake and spicier bites and for scorpion stings, 

 that can be carried along on a collecting trip ? G. R. PILATE, Tifton, Ga. 



