THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



17 



the morning following three were suspended and the same day pupated. 

 On Tuesday next, when putting fresh food in the box for the few which 

 had not yet pupated, I was astonished to see an imago of V. Milbertii in 

 the box, and on examining I found the empty pupa case suspended on 

 one side of the box. From that day they gradually hatched, until two 

 weeks after I found the caterpillars quite a number of imagoes had dis- 

 closed ; the balance I found, after waiting another week, to have died in 

 the pupa state. What do you think has been the cause of such a hurry ? 



WILLOW AND POPLAR, ALSO FOOD PLANTS OF PAEONIAS (SMERINTHUS) 



EXCECATA. 



Last fall (1883) I found the larvae of a Sphinx quite abundant on 

 willow, which were unique in color and markings, with the caterpillar of 

 P. cxccBcata. Reaching home I put them on the same kind of plant in 

 my garden. I then also took some caterpillars of P. exccecata, which I 

 had found feeding on linden, and tied them in a gauze bag on a willow 

 branch, on which they readily fed and afterwards pupated, this assuring 

 me that the first mentioned were of the same species. Early in August I 

 also found a number of small caterpillars of the same species on poplar 

 (P. vwnolifera ?), which I also fed on willow and on linden. The cater- 

 pillars of P. exccecata have been very abundant here last season, on wil- 

 low, whilst Sm. gemi?iatus, which I have not yet noticed on any other 

 plant, has been very scarce. 



In Vol. iv.. No. 2, p. 62 of the Bulletin of the Society of Natural Sci- 

 ence, Buffalo, N. Y., I stated in an article never to have caught the imago 

 of Darapsa myron on strings of dried apples, soaked in stale beer and 

 sugar ; this I wish with this to recall, as I caught a specimen on it last 

 season. D. versicolor and D. choerilus especially come frequently, and 

 have been taken by me quite often. 



Ph. Flscher, 528 High St., Buffalo. 



Dear Sir, — Mr. John D. Evans, on page 237, describes an unusual 

 gathering of Coleoptera on the shore of Weller's Bay, and desires to know 

 if others have observed similar instances. On 3rd June last, I saw an 

 almost equally numerous collection of insects near this city, between the 

 Chaudiere Falls and the Canada Pacific Railway bridge across the Ottawa. 

 A long boom-log fixed almost at right angles to the shore, formed with it 

 a pocket into which were swept by the swift current chips, bark and other 



