148 THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGlSf. 



* * * * though they are seldom killed outright, these infested plants 

 cease to grow, and later take on a sickly look, and not until the Aphis 

 abandons them in the autumn to return to the apple, do they show any 

 amount of vigour. It is very seldom that the affected plants fully recover 

 at least in autumn ; and the result must be to reduce their productiveness 

 the following year." The eggs of the Apple-leaf Aphis are deposited on 

 the twigs and limbs of apple trees late in the autumn • these do not hatch 

 until the following spring ; the plant-lice remain on the apple trees for two 

 or three generations, when winged females are produced, which fly to 

 grasses and weeds and there pass the summer. After the young wheat is 

 up in the autumn, the lice congregate on the plants and reproduce 

 rapidly. 



The above is briefly the life-history of this insect in Ohio as worked 

 out by Prof. Webster by careful experiments, which are detailed in the 

 Bulletin. At Ottawa this probably may also, to a large extent, be the 

 case ; but the Aphis is also sometimes abundant on young apple trees 

 right through the season. It is, however, seldom injuriously abundant in 

 Ontario, although in British Columbia it is to-day one of the most serious 

 enemies of the apple grower. 



Professor Webster's papers v/ill doubtless cause many other entomo- 

 logists to study this insect more closely, when it is probable that further 

 discoveries will be made, perhaps not less interesting than that now 

 discussed. J. F. 



CORRESPONDENCE. 



BELLURA DIFFUSA. 



Sir, — In Dr. Smith's catalogue of the Lepidopterous superfamily 

 Noctuidae, found in Boreal America, on page i8i, under Bellura diffusa, 

 Grote : he states, " I have not seen the type of this species." In the 

 March No. of Can. ENt., Vol. 26, p. 85, referring to that statement, Mr. 

 Grote says, " Where my type is now I cannot for the moment recollect. 

 It seems not to be in the British Museum." When Mr. Grote, then of 

 Buffalo, identified ...my specimen, he expressed pleasure at seeing the 

 species again, remarking that he had not seen it since he had first named 

 it ; which I understood from what he said was about a year previously, 

 indicating that it was not then in his collection. And the impression left 

 on my mind from his conversation was, that he had seen but one • 

 specimen before, and that he had returned it after naming it. All this is 

 distinctly impressed upon my memory, right or wrong, and my stating it 

 :nay assist Mr. Grote in recalling the transaction, and give him a clue to 

 where the type is now to be looked for. J. Alston Moffat. 



Mailed May 3rd. 



