44 THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



satisfactory, as I put but one on it and kept it there less than half an 

 hour. Finally I put them on elm, upon which they fed a little, but died 

 one after another. 



My friend, Mr. Charles Fish, had been fortunate enough to secure a 

 female which laid twenty-five eggs, I think, and with the young hatched 

 from these he was having a similar experience to my own. He finally 

 succeeded in getting the remaining few of his to eat wild red-cherry 

 (Pruniis pcmisylvanicus ). I was obliged to leave home at this time, and 

 got my friend, Mr. Anson Allen, to take the care of my young columbias 

 in my absence. Learning of Mr. Fish's success with wild cherry, he put 

 a part of the remaining number on that plant, leaving a few on elm, all of 

 which died, while those fed on the wild cherry succeeded in passing the 

 first moult, and I have been able to carry three through and see them spin 

 up their cocoons successfully. About the time these were in their later 

 moults Mr. Allen found two Columbia larva? feeding on larch (Larix 

 america?ia), so remote from other trees that there could be no possibility 

 of their having crawled on to it from any other tree, and further, these 

 same larvae continued feeding on the larch in confinement for several days, 

 and then spun their cocoons. Mr. Fish also found one or two larvse 

 feeding on the larch, several miles from . where Mr. Allen's were found. 

 These were all in a very healthy condition, and, it is hoped, will yield good 

 imagines next year. 



I have observed this striking peculiarity in the habits of the larva of 

 Columbia, that from the time they hatch till they are done feeding they 

 never wander about, but remain upon a leaf or twig entirely unsuitable for 

 food till they starve, even though there be fresh food within half an inch 

 of them. 



When they are fully grown and are done feeding, they evacuate their 

 bodies and then begin to travel around their enclosure, continuing their 

 travels sometimes for twenty-four hours, till they find a suitable place in 

 which to spin their cocoons. At first they spin a certain amount of white 

 or silver-colored silk, and after that has been expended, the brown silk. 

 One of the larvse wandered about for a long time before it appeared to get 

 ready, or to find a suitable place in which to spin its cocoon, and all this 

 time it was wasting its silvery silk, spinning it freely as it crawled 

 slowly over the surface of the glass forming one side of the breed- 

 ing cage. At last a satisfactory place was found, and the cocoon 

 spun, but almost entirely without the characteristic silvery bunches upon 



