220 THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



CORRESPONDENCE 



THE farrier's own INSECIICIDE. 



Dear Sir : Take pjants of Pokeweed, (Phytolacca dccandra), roots, 



stems and leaves : cut them into manageable lengths ; make a decoction 



— a sap-kettle will be useful for the purpose. Let the liquor cool, and 



then apply with a sprinkler. This will exterminate the currant-worm^ 



rose-slug and other pests of the garden. 



Thomas W. Fyles. 



GNOPH.^LA VERMICULATA, GrOtC. 



Dear Sir : Last year Mr. Bruce published a description of the larva 

 of this insect, giving^ the food-plant as Mertensia virginica (L.) As 

 Prof. J. B. Smith has repeated this record in Can. Ent. XXL, p. 174, it 

 becomes especially necessary to point out that it is probably erroneous. 

 In the first place, M. virginica is not known to occui- in Colorado, and 

 the species known from the Platte basin, in that State, are M. sibirica, 

 Don., M. alpina, Don., and M. paniculata, Don., — the last a new 

 record, being reported from Denver by Miss A. Eastwood. Secondly, 

 the larva of G. vermiciilata is common in Custer County from 8,000 to 

 10,000 feet alt., and is found on Mertensia sibirica, although I have 

 rarely found it also on Echinospermuvi Jforibundum, Lehm. I think, 

 therefore, we may regard M. sibirica and E.fioribundmn as the known 

 food-plants of G. vermiciilata, and throw over M. virginica as erroneous, 

 unless Mr. Bruce has anything to say to the contrary. I have elsewhere 

 described the larva and pupa of this insect, and as I have since found 

 the egg, this will be a convenient time to offer a description: — G. 

 vermiculata : egg, diam. one mill ; spherical, flattened at base ; pale 

 yellow, smooth, rather shiny. Laid in clusters on leaves of J/, sibirica. 

 Micawber Mine, Brush Creek, Custer Co., Colo., about 10,000 feet alt., 

 or over. August, 1889. ^- vermiculata occurs very abundantly in the 

 higher regions of the Arkansas Basin in Colorado, but I have not heard of 

 it on the Pacific slope. It flies lazily by day, visiting especially the flowers 

 of Senecia and Gymnolomia. 



West Cliff", Custer Co., Colo. T. D. A. Cockerell. 



Mailed November 5tli. 



