30 THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST 



caught some years ago, just emerging from a spot where I had 

 previously marked a Cicindela burrow, and as the latter was no 

 longer pressnt I suspect the fly of having been the cause, par- 

 ticularly as Prof. V. E. Shelford records an allied genus as preying 

 upon the larvae of tiger beetles. Several other species are known 

 to be parasitic, and one has the distinction of destroying locust 

 eggs. 



Lastly, as part of the fauna, there is a very beautiful spider 

 (Geolycosa) which burrows large holes in the sand, as winter 

 approaches going down five or six feet, but at this time they are 

 comparatively shallow and the females are often but a few inches 

 down with a host of young clinging -to their backs. When dis- 

 turbed with a straw they bite it savagely, and can bite hard 

 too, but curiously enough they have a mortal dread of the various 

 black wasps found later on, which usually paralyze and make use 

 of them for food. I have seen the spiders make frantic efforts to 

 escape from a wasp half their size and eventually when escape 

 was impossible, turn over on their backs and fight, but they fought 

 in despair with the knowledge of almost certain death awaiting 

 them, and thus it always ended. The wasp while keeping at a 

 safe distance was eventually able to use her sting, and soon after 

 was dragging the spider to her burrow. 



CATERPILLARS AS WEATHER PROPHETS. 



In a Toronto newspaper there recently appeared an article 

 taken from the "New York American," in which a forecast is given 

 of the weather during the approaching winter, stating that "after 

 the most intense cold weather we have experienced for years we 

 shall have a mild spell and great thaws and floods; we shall have 

 a very late and backward spring, with real winter at the time we 

 should have fine spring-like weather. The caterpillar shows light 

 in front, followed with a very well-defined spot of considerable size, 

 and this dark indicates our mid-winter snap. Then the light ap- 

 pears again, and this indicated the warm spell, and if there was no 

 more dark there would be a prospect of a very early spring, but 

 another dark spot appears toward the rear of the caterpillar, and 

 this will bring the late and unseasonable cold at a time we should 

 have our mild weather." 



