p 



THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 61 



To Miss Murtfeldt belongs the credit of working out the Hfe-history 

 so far as this is now known, my own observations being only supplemen- 

 tary. Miss M, records the occurrence of larvae, supposedly belonging to 

 this species, in early spring burrowing in the stems of pepper-grass 

 [Lepidhitti virginicum), and also in the same plant in July, thereby 

 implying at least two annual broods. The injury to cabbage, as observed 

 by her, appears to have been confined to early plants either in hotbeds 

 or soon after having been removed therefrom. In the case of the Ohio 

 outbreak, the attack was among young plants started late for fall and 

 winter use. My attention was not called to the exact trouble until June 

 4, and both larvae and adults were taken from these plants July i8, so 

 that I seemed to have been dealing with the second brood. The plants 

 were growing on low ground bordering on a pasture, and the latitude was 

 nearly the same as that of Kirkwood, Missouri, where Miss Murtfeldt's 

 studies were carried on. It is, of course, quite possible that the period 

 of oviposition is protracted, and that I was dealing only with the latter 

 part of the first brood. 



REMARKABLE WORK OF INSECTS. 

 At the meeting (of February 3rd) of the Academy of Science, of St. 

 Louis, Mo. (President Gray in the chair), Mr. Trelease exhibited several 

 specimens, about three feet square, of a curious silk tapestry, taken from 

 the ceiling of a corn-storing loft in San Luis Potosi, Mexico, by Dr. 

 Francis Eschauzier, stating that he was informed that the larger specimen 

 had been cut from a continuous sheet over twenty yards wide and about 

 four times as long. The specimens, of a nearly white colour, and of much 

 the appearance and feeling of a soft tanned piece of sheepskin, were 

 shown to be composed of myriads of fine silken threads, crossing and 

 recrossing at every conceivable angle, and so producing a seemingly 

 homogeneous texture. Although specimens of the creatures by which 

 they are produced had not been secured, it was stated that there was no 

 doubt that these tapestries are the work of lepidopterous larviv which 

 feed upon grain, the presumption being that they are made by the larvae 

 of what has been called the Mediterranean Grain or Flour Moth 

 (Ephestia Kuhniella ) . The speaker briefly reviewed the history of this 

 insect and its injuriousness in various parts of the world, and quoted 

 from a report of Dr. Bryce, showing that in Canada, where it became 

 established in 1889, " a large warehouse, some 25 feet wide, 75 feet long, 

 and four stories high, became literally alive with moths in the short 

 course of six months." William Trelease, Recording Secretary. 



