14 THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



There was one thing that struck me as somewhat remarkable, the portion 

 of leaf on which the greatest number were feeding, appeared to be the same 

 size as before the hellebore was applied; if smaller I could not perceive it. 

 "When the leaves dry, which have been sprinkled with liquid, a very thin 

 coating of the powder, more or less regular, is found over them, and I had 

 always supposed that death resulted from eating a portion of the leaf thus 

 coated. Such is undoubtedly the case when the hellebore is applied dry, but 

 in this case a meal however small made by forty-four caterpillars on half a 

 leaf, must have materially diminished it. I am disposed to believe then that 

 the death of most of these must have resulted from their imbibing; or absorb- 

 ing some of the liquid as soon as applied. Many of them showed symptoms 

 of the violent cathartic action of the remedy, having a mass of soft exuvia 

 hanging to the extremity of their dead bodies. 



I had reserved one bush, on which were a good number for another experi- 

 ment. It sometimes happens, especially with those who live in the country, 

 that hellebore is not at hand when the worms are first observed at work, and 

 a few days' delay in procuring it is perhaps unavoidable. In such cases the 

 bushes may be entirely leafless, before the remedy can be applied. Hot 

 water suggested itself to my mind as likely to be of some service, and being 

 also an article readily procurable in every home. It is well known that many 

 plants will bear such an application without injury, provided the heat is not 

 too great. Taking some in a watering pot, a little hotter than one could bear 

 the hand in, I showered it plentifully on the affected bush, and it was amus- 

 ing to see how the caterpillars wriggled and twisted and quickly letting go 

 their hold, fell to the ground, which was soon strewed with them. After 

 the first excitement produced by the sudden heat was over, they remained as 

 if wishing to " cool off" before commencing work again. A few did not 

 recover from the application, but most of them were soon as active as ever. 



Now what I would suggest is this, that where hellebore cannot be at once 

 procured, no time should be lost in applying the hot water, and when once 

 on the ground the creatures may have the life trodden out of them by the 

 foot, or beaten out with the spade or some other implement. In any case 

 many of them would never reach the bush again, for enemies beset them on 

 every side. I was amused to see how busy a colony of ants were who had a 

 home at the base of a tree near by, lugging these large caterpillars along, a 

 single one of which would take three or four to manage. The worms were 

 twisting and jumping about as if they wondered whose hands they had got 

 into, and the ants were hanging on with their sharp jaws and slowly dragging 

 the bodies along. By and by they had quite a little pile accumulated, which 

 would no doubt furnish them or their progeny with a feast of fat things for 

 some time to come. Then there are the tiger beetles (Cicinddidae), with a 



