Vol. xxii] ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS 309 



There appear to be no records of the food-plants of the 

 beetle in nature Buddeberg remarks that he has never found 

 the beetle on a plant and most writers speak of the beetle as 

 being found under stones, or running on the ground. Probably, 

 like many other European species of Chrysomela, it is crepus- 

 cular or nocturnal. 



The beetle was called "staphylea" by Linne, not because it 

 was supposed to feed on the plant of this name, but on ac- 

 count of its resemblance in color to the seeds of the plant. 

 Rosenhauer fed his larvae with Mcntha crispa from the green- 

 house, and later with Mentha sylvestris and Ranunculus acris 

 Buddeberg offered a great variety of plants to his beetles and 

 found that they preferred Veronica beccabunga, leaving the 

 other plants untouched. The larvae showed a preference for 

 the same plant, but also ate Mcntha aquatic a and Lye opus 

 europaeus. 



Notes on the Species of Acronycta and Descriptions 

 of new Species (Lepid.). 



By JOHN B. SMITH, Sc.D., New Brunswick, New Jersey. 



Incident to the preparation of a paper on the California!! 

 species of Acronycta, I found it desirable to compare my 

 collection with the revision by Sir George F. Hampson, in Vol. 

 VIII of his Catalogue of British Museum Noctuidae. The 

 receipt of a number of species for determination, including a 

 little lot from Mr. E. Firmstone Heath, of Cartwright, Mani- 

 toba, gave further opportunity of comparing some of the 

 species rather closely, and these notes are the result. 



As a rule, I am inclined to follow Hampson in his identi- 

 fications and synonymical references, even when I am not 

 fully agreed, because of the desirability of getting at some 

 fixed determination of species. Furthermore, he is usually 

 right where he has had sufficient material upon which to base 

 a satisfactory conclusion. Finally, there are some cases where 

 a number of specimens marked types by the original describer 



