236 THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



experiments is just as incumbent upon those who deny as upon those who 

 assert the vaUdity of these specific distinctions. 



For myself, I care very little whether entomologists acknowledge that 

 these moths belong to distinct species or not, if they will only regard them 

 as distinct forms or varieties. No good can possibly come from lumping 

 such forms as Lecontei, Contigua, Confusa, Suffusa and Fulvicosta under 

 one name. Let these names be used if only as varietal names^ in order 

 that we may know what writers on the subject refer to, and learn some- 

 thing of the distribution of these interesting forms. If this is done, and 

 those who have the opportunity and time will breed them and publish the 

 results of their experiments, I shall be quite content, and shall have no 

 fear of the correctness of my views being disproved, but even if the results 

 should controvert my belief, I shall be quite satisfied so long as the truth 

 is established. 



NOTE ON THE PREDATORY HABITS OF CH.4CT0PSIS 



yENEA (Wied). 



REV. THOMAS W. FYLES, SOUTH QUEBEC. 



In the beginning of July last I discovered in a bed of Typha latifolia, 

 in the neighborhood of Montreal, a large number of the larvae of Arzama 

 obliquata. I have visited the spot repeatedly, and have had the larvae 

 under daily observation. One remarkable circumstance concerning them 

 is that they are liable to attacks from the maggots of a fiy belonging to the 

 Ortalidae, viz. : — The Chcetopsis cenea of Wiedeman, the Ortalis trifasciata 

 of Say. I found that larvge, in the proportion of about one in every six, 

 had been overcome by these maggots. Some of the victims were quite 

 dead ; some were still writhing. As many as twenty maggots were feed- 

 ing on one caterpillar, draining away its juices. They were of the usual 

 form, pointed at one end and truncated at the other. When mature, 

 their length was about seven-sixteenths of an inch. I raised a great 

 number of them, feeding them upon injured obliqiiata larvae. The 

 pupal stage lasted about ten days ; and all through August the flies 

 continued to make their appearance. They are very beautiful. The 

 head is white ; the eyes are dark brown ; the body is green and glossy ; 

 and the legs, antennae and mouth-organs are brownish yellow. The 

 wings are whitish and hyaline ; they have black tips and two transverse 

 black bars, the hinder of which touches the black tips at the costal edge. 

 I am indebted to Dr. Hagen for the identification of the species. 



