THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 79 



ARZAMA OBLIQUATA. 



Dear Sir : On reading Mr. Kellicott's communication in Can. Ent. 

 for February, 1889, I learn that his observations concerning the habits of 

 Arzatna obliquata G. & R. larvse, do not agree with mine. Up to the 

 26th of January of the present year I held the same opinion as he does, 

 and I was not a little bit surprised on hearing of its being a winter feeder. 

 Requiring some lining for a few packing boxes which I was preparing to 

 send by mail, I had occasion to go to the marsh for some stalks (commonly 

 known as rushes, but by botanists, I suppose, as Typ/ia), which make a 

 convenient substitute for cork. The very first stalk that I cut showed 

 that larvse had been at work. This at once brought to my mind the 

 recent communications of which Mr. Kellicctt writes, so I began an in- 

 vestigation and was much surprised at the result. Besides a number of 

 empty pupae and a mature larva (which I always find in the form of a 

 loop, with one end shorter than the other) at rest for the winter, down in 

 the thick part of the stalk, I found three immature larvae at full length 

 up in the small part and surrounded by evidence of recent feeding. 

 During my nine or ten years of collecting, I have raised both Arzaina 

 obliquata and diffusa from mature larvae found on shore in old wood and 

 other rubbish, mostly every year. Some I have found as early as Novem- 

 ber 3rd, and others in every month until May. Having always found 

 them pretty plentiful on shore, I was of the opinion that it was their 

 habit always to come there to transform, but my observations on the 

 above date convince me that those I had hitherto found were only 

 wanderers, while the main body remain at home to undergo their transfor- 

 mation. As for their being single brooded here I agree with him. I have 

 found two or three moths late in July, but those I should say came from 

 larvae which passed the winter in the immature state, rather than from 

 eggs laid that season. 



March 9th, 1889. James Johnston, Hamilton, Ont. 



NOTES. 



We are glad to learn that Mr. John B. Smith, of the National Museum, 

 Washington, has been appointed State Entomologist of New Jersey. He 

 will enter upon his new duties on the first of April, and will reside at New 

 Brunswick, N. J. While we congratulate the State upon securing the 



