156 THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



with long slender pencils of black hairs. There is a Bombycid moth 

 found in the Eastern States, Apatclodes torrefacta, whose larva, judging 

 from Smith & Abbot's drawing, bears a striking resemblance to that of 

 Apatcla americana. It is also a large moth, and the two may be more 

 closely connected than is at present admitted. One of them is placed m 

 the Noctuidse, the other in the Bombycid^, with a number of genera 

 between. The larvae of the Noctuan genera before Acronyda, in their 

 bizarre appearance, also resemble those of' the Ptilodontes more than 

 those of the Noctuidse. Newman states that Ichthyura (Clostera) is 

 closely allied to Cymatophora, a Noctuid genus, and should be placed 

 near it in a natural classitication. 



In the small and beautiful sub-family Flatyptericidai, the moths are 

 very like Geometers, their bodies being slender and the wings broad and 

 fmely scaled. They also rest with their wii^gs expanded, as many 



Geometers do. 



The last sub-family in the Bombycida; is so different from the rest m 



structure, appearance and habits, that it should be separated from them 



and given the family rank, as in England. These insects, the Hepialidse, 



are borers, die larvs living either in the roots or the stems of plants, and 



although they make cocoons, these are hidden in the earth or the stem of 



the plant in which they have fed. In their structure the perfect insects 



resemble Neuroptera. The body is long and soft, the antennae small, and 



the places of attachment of the fore and hind wings to the body widely 



separated, as in Dragon FHes and other aquatic insects. Both larva ^and 



pupa aie also different in form from those of the remainder of the Bom- 



bvcidse. 



The foregoing notes go far to prove that our Family Bombycida; is at. 

 present too comprehensive. A future revision should raise a few of its 

 subdivisions to family rank, which would make the classification more 

 simple and more natural. 



HOOK NOTICES. 



Ottawa Field Naturalists' Club— 'i'ransactions No. 5 (Volume II.. 



No. i). 



The Transactions of this active Club have just been received, and 

 bear testimony to the value of the scientific work which is being done by | 

 our Ottawa friends. The number consists of 152 pages, is well printed | 



