THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 141 



thin shell in all places, for its bulk is really small to have sufficed for so 

 lengthy a larval period. It is, in fact, one of those unexpected food-plants 

 in which we occasionally meet our boring Gortynte. That they should 

 choose the stems of our largest plants, as Heliajithus giganteus^ Heracleiivi 

 lanattun and such, appears fitting ; or that a fleshy root like Aquilegia 

 should be tempting is to be expected, but for a climbing vine, a delicate 

 fern or the modest pitcher-plant to tempt them is beyond ordinary 

 expectations. Notwithstanding, we have a major part of the life-histories 

 of these borers now known, and at the price of eternal vigilance the others 

 will be rounded-up some day. 



The author would take this occasion to correct a former inference 

 whereby it was assumed that the young larvte of Papaipeina hibernated 

 in the first stage. The true facts are that the winter is passed in the egg 

 state, and the young come forth about the first of June in tiiis locality. 

 The error occurred some years ago with the first ova ever obtained, when 

 some minute mites ate out the contents of the egg, leaving the empty 

 shells, from which it was presumed the larv;\i had hatched. The following 

 year tiie mites were caught in the act, and the true condition of affairs 

 determined. 



CiEOMETRIU NOTES 



On the Genus Svnelys, Hulst. 



iiv i.. w. .swett, eedkorn, mass. 



Having received so many different forms of Syneiys alabastraria, 



Hub., from various collectors, I determined to straighten out the tangle in 



the group. To st.irt with, of course, it was necessary to know just what 



aA?i^ai^rar/(Z of iliibner (Zutr. exot. Schmelt, ii, fig. 311, 1825 ?) was. 



In the first place, 1 found almost all writers on the subject had been guilty 



of spelling the name incorrectly; and secondly, that the plate differed from 



any Geometer known to me, as the three forms that occur with us have 



no ochreous under side, and the rust-brown markings on the upper side 



were different. At the beginning of my work I believe the various 



collectors placed the three forms as follows: i, enucleata, Gn., as the 



form with large dark blotches on the fore and hind wings. This species 



also has often been misspelled. 2, alabastraria, as the form without dark 



blotches on fore and hind wings. 3, the form with a single black patch 



on inner margin of fore wings, and figured by Guenee (Plate 12, fig. 3) as 



simply var. A of enuc/eata, without name. I determined, therefore, to 



send all three forms to the British Museum to see under what names of 



Walker they would be, 



April, 1907 



