192 THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



There was hardly one evening on which h'ght proved attractive, con- 

 sequently I took very few Sohingidse ; even Smerinthus geminatiis, which 

 is often a perfect nuisance from its numbers, hardly ai)peared. Yet, if one 

 may judge from the number o{ Ampelophaga cJicBrilus, Cram., that visited 

 my sugared trees, the other species occurring here should have been on 

 the wing in their usual numbers. 



Later on, in June, the genus Acronycta came out rather strongly, and 

 gave me a few nice things. Tiie most abundant species of the year at 

 sugar was Noctiia inopinatus^ Smith, and with them were a few rather 

 larger and redder moihs, which I conclude were Nodua haruspica, Grote. 

 The two moths are so similar that it is very difficult to separate any 

 number under their respective names. Pi. inopinatiis replaced Hadeiia 

 devastatrix, which, strange to say, was decidedly scarce. 



I particularly noticed the absence of the genera Leucania and Plusia 

 — by the latter name I mean the genus as it formerly stood, before it was 

 split up into sundry subgenera. Even Leucania unipuncta, Haw., was a 

 rarity. All Arctians were also scarce. Cos?nia paleacea, Esper., and 

 punctirena, Smitii, came to sugar rather freely, and so did Xanthiaflavago, 

 Kabr., much more so than in any previous year. 



The autumnal genera Catocala, Xylina, etc., were not nearly so 

 abundantly represented as in the average of seasons, with the exception 

 of C. briseis, Edw., of which I took a long series showing considerable 

 variation, one or two having large white blotches on the primaries, which 

 I believe is very unusual. 



Those si)ecies of Xylina which were most abundant during the previous 

 year were but poorly represented. I think on the whole that X. tepida, 

 Grote, was the most plentiful. 



'I'he larva of StJienopis argetiteo-?nacu/ati/s, Harris, seems to be a very 

 general root-f^^eder. I liave several times ploughed it out of the roots of 

 scrub willows on the prairie, and during the second week of May I was 

 having some black cherry and hazel scrub dug up, to enlarge my garden, 

 when a full-fed larva was disturbed. I put it into a box, and it produced 

 a moth, a female, during the second week of July. This species was also 

 scarce; I only saw one other on the wing instead of the usual dozen or so. 



As to Geometers, except for two or three species that come to sugar 

 like Noctuids, I hardly saw any — -they were not to be taken, though I 

 particularly wanted several s|)ecies. However, when I get all the names 

 that are wanting in my collection, which I hope soon to do with th:* kind 



