214 '^ THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



crop. As a matter of fact, however, there had been less injury, both to 

 small grains and grasses, than for many years previously. This diminution 

 he could only explain by the supposition that the eggs had been destroyed 

 by some predaceous insect. The eggs must have been laid in large. num- 

 bers, but there was very little evidence of the presence of the larvae, either 

 in the standing wheat or barley, or in the root-shoots of barley. The 

 Oscinis he had been unable to identify; but, through the kindness of Mr. 

 John Marten, of Illinois, he had learnt of some work which had been done 

 by Prof Garman in Kentucky, upon what was probably the same species. 

 This, Mr. Marten said, had been doubtfully identified by Dr. Williston as 

 O. variabilis. 



Prof. Garman stated that he had studied what appeared to be the 

 same species, and had prepared an article for publication. He also gave 

 some notes upon the life history and anatomy of the insect. 



Prof. Osborn had taken at Ames, Iowa, numerous specimens of Oscinis, 

 one of which closely resembled that exhibited by Mr. Fletcher. 



Prof. Alwood had studied in Ohio an Oscinis infesting oats, and had 

 published his results in Bulletin 13, Division of Entomology. He had 

 found the eggs, from two to eleven in number, were forced beneath the 

 sheath of the leaf, and that just prior to pupation the larva gnawed through 

 the epidermis and the pupa protruded so as to admit of the easy escape 

 of the adult. 



Mr. Fletcher, referring again to Meromyza, stated that in many in- 

 stances he had found the egg deposited in the field upon the upper surface 

 of the leaf some distance from the stem, and asked if others had observed 

 this to be the case elsewhere. 



Prof Garman had found that the eggs were laid just above the sheath, 

 or sometimes pushed beneath it. 



Prof. Webster stated that the eggs of the Hessian Fly had, in the 

 spring of the present year, throughout Southern and Central Indiana, been 

 deposited near the roots, the "flax-seeds" being found in that portion of 

 the plant ; while in the northern part of the State the case had evidently 

 been different, as the " flax-seeds " were there almost invariably located 

 about the second joint. 



The Secretary read a paper by Mr. Edward L. Graef, of New York, 

 upon the American Silk Worm Moths or Spinners, in which a serious 



