14 ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. [January, 



asparagi Linn. This Chrysomdid has never before been observed in 

 this locality. OTTOMAR REINECKE, Buffalo, N. Y. 



VOL. Ill, No. 8, of the News gives us the interesting story of the in- 

 troduction of Sainia cynthia\\i\.Q Philadelphia. In collecting during the last 

 few years I had my attention drawn to the multitude of larvae and cocoons 

 of this species found in certain parts of the city. Not more than ten 

 minutes' walk from my residence will bring me to a grove of trees where 

 the Ailanthus is predominant. In this place I have taken, the last two 

 years, over two thousand larvae and cocoons, and this figure alone will 

 tell how they nave multiplied in the northwestern part of this city since 

 the year 1860 from the few worms of Dr. Thomas Stewardson's successful 

 experiment. The female seems to favor trees near the open and along 

 the road for depositing the eggs as most of the offspring are found there. 

 It seems strange that the larvae now at any stage are very little molested 

 by birds, of which there is a variety, whereas at the beginning the Doctor 

 lost quite a number this way. The larvae, which feed gregariously in the 

 first stages, are easily found on the underside of the leaf, but after the 

 second moult, with no protection, will feed and moult on the same stem, 

 and there can be little trouble for the sharp eye of the smallest insectiv- 

 orous bird to find them. When taken by hand they will not fight like 

 some larvae of the Sphingidae, nor discharge any fluid like the Datana; 

 in fact, all they do is to stick to their foothold. In October I collected 

 some cocoons and kept them in the room previous to sending a lot abroad 

 when, to my dismay, nearly all the moths emerged and I found some 

 mated shortly afterwards. Eggs hatched in fifteen days. The leaves of 

 the Ailanthus only lasting up to the second moult I tried several Winter 

 plants which were taken as a doubtful " free lunch" and a week after the 

 last proper food-plant had disappeared the worms went to the happy 

 hunting grounds. This lot makes the third generation this year. Ac- 

 cording to my observations their collecting in colonies seems habitual, 

 except when feeding on Liriodendron and Lindera benzoin. The moth 

 is an excellent dish for our screech owl (as I had the opportunity to ob- 

 serve) which may account for their scarcity in comparison to the number 

 of cocoons. Many larvae of E. tityrns have been collected on Desmodiiim 

 .nudiflorum, a food-plant new to me. T. nicippe has been very plentiful 

 this season, and has apparently a different food-plant from Cassia, owing 

 to the limited occurrence of this plant in our neighborhood. H. HORNIG. 



Identification of Insects (Images ) for Subscribers. 



Specimens will be named under the following conditions : ist, The number of species 

 to be limited to twenty-five for each sending; 2d, The sender to pay all expenses of trans- 

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