118 THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



the two species in their preparatory stages. Characters of single 

 specimens are of little value, and true distinction can only be arrived 

 at by the examination of many individuals. Thus, I possess one Ursula 

 pupa, so conspicuously marked with black spots and streaks on the edges 

 of the dorsal hump, of the wing and leg sheaths, of the shoulder, and of 

 the ear-like prominences of the head, that, taken singly, these would form 

 striking characters : but in others, again, these marks are either illy defined, 

 or entirely obsolete. 



1 am really rejoiced to see your little work prospering so well and 

 improving so much. I am glad to see that Mr. V. T. Chambers is taking 

 up the Micros. It is a vast and most interesting field , and I hope Mr. C. 

 will prove a second Clemens to us, for we are sadly in need of one ! 

 There is something rather incoherent in Mr. Wm. Coupers articles, and 

 he has committed some serious errors. Firstly, if he wishes to instruct 

 in Entomology, he must not talk of the " family of Hymenoptera" (p. 35, 

 1. 24). Secondly, he ought to know that curculionidous larvae do not 

 spin silken cocoons ; and by referring to the third Missouri Entomological 

 Report, he will find that we do know something of the habits of quite a 

 number of our snout-beetles. The larva in acorns which he describes on 

 page 65 is, as I am quite convinced from his text, no Curculionid at all, 

 but an inquilinous moth-larva, in which he has rather carelessly overlooked 

 the legs. It produces a little ash-gray moth, characterized chiefly by 

 having on the front wings two distinct discal spots on an usually silvery 

 gray ground, and a transverse pale stripe across the basal third of the 

 wing, well relieved posteriorly by a dark median shade. It varies much 

 in size and conspicuity of markings, but the average expanse is about ^ths 

 of an inch. The moths issue all along from the end of April till Sept. 

 The larva is found in all kinds of acorns, especially in those that have 

 been injured or infested by the acorn weevil (Balanimts rectus, Say), and 

 the small [it is generally 0.05 inch in diameter] circular hole, observed by 

 Mr. Couper, and supposed by him to be made by the parent for the 

 deposition of its egg (!), is but die hole by which the Balaninus larva 

 escaped to go into the ground, and which the inquilinous moth-larva 

 covers up with silk after it comes to occupy the acorn. I took specimens 

 of this moth to Europe with me, but could not find that it was described, 

 it apparently belongs to the genus Geieckia, and I propose for it the name 

 of G. glandulella. I have found its larva (in company with those of a 



