THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 99 



contained the long larva-like puparium of the female, fastened at either 

 end with stout silken bands to the side of the cocoon. The thoracic por- 

 tion of the puparium, upon being slightly pressed, separated in atoms, and 

 the down)- substance with which it had been filled floated away in the air 

 like dust : the abdominal portion of the puparium contained from fifty to 

 eighty soft yellowish eggs. It has been thought by some of our Entomo- 

 logists that the eggs are deposited among the silken threads in the upper 

 part of the cocoon, and by others that they are not extruded from the 

 body of the parent, but that the moth dies retaining them. Later investi- 

 gation,' however, has shown that they are deposited within the puparium, 

 a fact clearly demonstrated by the observations that I have made. The 

 very unusual method as displayed by this moth for the protection of its 

 ova. is probably attributable to the fact that the shells are singularly ten- 

 der, and as the slightest touch would make a jelly of the whole deposit, 

 this extraordinary provision is made necessary. 



CORRESPONDENCE. 



LAST Vf:AR'S COLLECTING. 



The connection between the weather and insect life is an interesting 

 subject, but one that requires a vast amount of observation before any 

 conclusions of much value can be reached. We are all familiar with the 

 relation of the weather to the crops, but insects seem more dependent on 

 favorable weather than vegetation is. The first part of a season may be 

 very injurious to vegetation, whilst later on a favorable change may 

 occur and it will recover all it lost and even exceed an average : but with 

 insects, if they have been seriously interfered with in the early part of 

 their career the result is generally fatal to the bulk of them for that season. 

 This is undoubtedly one of nature's methods for preventing excess. 

 Ontario alone has a varied range of climate, and what is said of one 

 section will not apply to others. ^'ennor considers Hamilton and 

 neighborhood endowed with a climate peculiarly its own, and the verdict 

 of concurrent opinion is favorable. But whether it was the open winter 

 or the long continued cold of spring, certain it is the summer of 1882 was 

 rendered remarkable by the absence of Diurnals : even those least 

 observant remarked it. Pieris rapie appeared early, and then dis- 

 appeared almost entirely until quite late in the season. I did not see 

 half-a-dozen Archippus the whole summer. The milk weeds stood in 



