234 THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



is blunt and hardly shows bifidate. Extreme length i.i inches. Moths 

 appear Sept. 5 to 12. 



It certainly means a great deal of work bringing through examples of 

 this species, but the thrill of delight and admiration experienced when 

 beholding the freshly-emerged insect will, we predict, be an ample 

 compensation. Unfortunately, the beautiful plum-bloom purple of the 

 two species so far discussed, fades more or less brownish after awhile, 

 no matter what pains be taken to keep the specimens from any exposure 

 to light, so that it is really necessary to breed them in order to fully 

 appreciate these insects. 



Cerussata is very fond of leaving its burrow when in the larval state, 

 which may be explained in part by the curious splitting that the stem 

 undergoes and which makes a kind of trough leading any dew or water 

 directly in on the insect below. So there is cause, perhaps, for a change ; 

 but in case of isolated plants it means a serious fast and probably 

 the substitution of some other plant as food. Such an instance had 

 surely occurred with my first example from pupa secured some years 

 ago, when an exceedingly dwarfed specimen emerged from a random lot 

 of pupae gathered in Rumex and all supposed to be common cataphrada. 



[to be continued ] 



SOME NOTES ON "THE CAMBRIDGE NATURAL HISTORY, 



VOL. VI." 



BY O. W. BARRETT, .MUSEO C. G. E., TACUBAYA, MEXICO. 



On jjage 365, Dr. Sharp states that the Hesperid larva "frequently 

 forms a rudimentary cocoon." It does not appear to be generally known 

 that Doberes Mexicanns, Feld., a Hesperid (near Eaiitis) common to 

 Central Mexico, makes a decidedly complicated cocoon. Constructed of 

 tough gray silk, and very closely woven, the cocoon is formed between 

 two leaves (or, rarely, two sides of one folded leaf) of the " zapote bianco" 

 (Casiiniroa sp. ), and suspended from a twig by a strong silk thread 70 

 mm. to 90 mm. in length. The mouth is closed by an exceptionally well 

 made chevaux-de-frise and turned at nearly right angles to the axis of the 

 cocoon, which is 33 mm, in length, and at the middle, 13 mm. in breadth 

 by 9 mm. in thickness. 



The larva, after entering the cocoon, as well as the pupa during its 



