TIIF, CANAIHAN ENTdMOT.OOTST. 83 



skins present a l)eautiful iridescent appearance under tlie microscope when 

 viewed bv reflected litrlil. 



These larv;v teed on the cantharidcs all winter, and if in (juanlily, 

 commit great lunoc, leaving only the hard exterior portions untouched, 

 such as the upper ixirtion ol" the thorax, the green wing cases, and trans- 

 parent wings. W hen their legitimate food gives out they have no com- 

 ])unc.tion about first eating their dead parents, and then each other, but on 

 this diet thev do not seem to thrive so well. 



The beetle emerges in May or June, and is about one-eighth of an inch 

 long, oval and black, the upper i)arts being marbled and streaked with 

 whitish and rufous, which are rubbed off after death if the insect is sub- 

 jected to an)- rough usage. 



Camphor does not kill these lar\;e, and after keeping some for a day 

 in a small box about a cjuarter full of camphor, the only thing worthy of 

 remark in their actions was that they did not seem quite so lively as those 

 kept without it. That they have a distaste for it, however, is proved by 

 the fact that some which were put in a box with holes in it, left the box 

 during the night. The Pharmacopoeia direction to keep camphor with the 

 cantharides is, therefore, not a remedy, merely a preventive measure, and 

 not a very good one either. The va])or of chloroform rapidly kills them, 

 so that by putting a small quantity of chloroform in a gallipot on the top 

 of the infested cantharides, the heavy vapor will sink throtigh it and 

 destroy them. 



Note. — The essay was accompanied with specimens of the larvae, 

 skins and beetles, mounted for examination by means of the micro- 

 scope. 



THE PARASITE OF PHYLLOXERA VASTATRIX, AND THE 

 GALL INSECT OF THE NETTLE TREE. 



liY REV. THOMAS W. FYLES, COWANSVIELE, P. Q. 



L'pon request. I sent to Dr. H. A. Hagen specimens of the para- 

 site of the Phylloxera, Diplosis (?) grassatoi'. At the same time I sent 

 him specimens of the Psylla described on page 198 of vol. xiv. Dr. 

 Hagen favored me with information as follows : — 



"The fly is a Cecidomyia ; I think it is not sure that it belongs to 

 Diplosis. At least the reticulation of the wing differs in having the 



