THE CANADlAK EKfOMOLOGtST. 33l 



bases of the buds must greatly lessen the vitality of the whole tree. 

 When the mites occur as numerously as shown in the figures, they must 

 prove a serious pest ; and, with our present scanty knowledge of their 

 life-history, they will prove a hard foe to combat. So far as we know, 

 the mites are securely protected in their gall-homes during the whole 

 year. Possibly there may be a few days, when they are leaving their galls 

 to form new ones, that they could be hit with an insecticide. It is 

 doubtful if kerosene emulsion will penetrate the galls, but it is worthy of 

 a trial on a few trees during their dormant period ; dilute the emulsion 

 with only three or four parts of water, and make it by the Riley-Hubbard 

 formula. The only other suggestion I can now make is to prune the 

 trees as closely as possible, taking pains to cut out as many gall-bearing 

 twigs as practicable, and to burn all prunings. As most of the galls are 

 on the twigs, millions of the mites could be destroyed in this way. 



I am indebted to the " Rural New Yorker'' for the use of the figures 

 of this mite and its work. 



PARTIAL PREPARATORY STAGES OF SOME MOTHS. 



BY G. H. FRENCH, CARBONDALE, ILL. 



Catocala Minuta, Edw. 



Full - grow7i larva. — Length about one inch. As in most Catocala 

 larvge, seven stripes, the dorsal gray, lilac tinted ; the next blackish-gray, 

 paler on the middle of the joints ; the next about the same colour, but 

 tinted with the reddish-orange that forms the broad bordering lines 

 between the stripes ; the next also blackish and below this dull orange. 

 The bordering lines on the back whitish, distinct white on the folds ; 

 lateral fringe orange tinted. Piliferous spots orange, the posterior pair to 

 each joint more prominent than the anterior pair ; the anterior pairs on 

 joints 6 to 8 paler. The posterior part of joint 9 elevated and white 

 between the spots ; back of the elevation, and reaching down to the legs, 

 orange tinted black. Head dull lilac-gray, mottled with white, a 

 blackish patch above on each side and in front two black spots on each 

 side. Venter yellowish-white, with black patches in centre of joints. 



Chrysalis. — Length, .65 inch ; diameter of thorax, .23 inch; tongue- 

 and wing-cases extending back to posterior part of 5, the tongue-case as 

 far back as the wing-case ; tapering back from 5 ; abdominal joints very 

 shallowly punctured, the punctures scarcely perceptible with the lens ; 



