138 THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



hind the middle of the elytra and a sutural vitta. In the $ the rostrum 

 is equal to three-fourths the length of the body ; in the $ it is equal 

 to five-fourths. I believe it breeds entirely in hickory nuts. 



What I take to be rectus, on the contrary, has a finer, lighter-coloured 

 rostrum which is much more rectilinear, especially in the £ ; and it 

 always differs from nasicus in having no bands or vitta, the elytra being 

 uniformly spotted as in sparsus Schcen. This is the species I breed from 

 acorns, and I believe it also infests hazel-nuts. 



There are several other species which closely resemble these two and 

 seem to connect them, and I am satisfied that we can do very little in 

 classifying them until their habits and variations are better understood. — 



C. V. Riley. 



A Phenomenon. — The Ashy Blister Beetle, Lytta cinerea Fab. ( Ma- 

 crobasis Fabricii LeConteJ was very destructive to the potato vines in 

 several parts of the Province of Quebec during last July. In some 

 places it was exceedingly abundant, and attacked the Windsor bean as 

 well as the potato. Five years ago it was also very common. Its appear- 

 ance this year gave occasion to an article in one of the French newspapers 

 published in Three Rivers, which is such a wonderful production that it 

 is well worthy of being placed on record. Entomologists will have a smile 

 at it, and think that a little better acquaintance with insect life would do 

 our farmers and journalists no harm. The following is a free translation 

 of the article : — 



" A NEW PLAGUE. 



" We are threatened, it would seem, by a new plague. A citizen, a 

 good observer, reports to us that he has noticed the following phenomenon 

 in a fine field of potatoes on his grounds in this town. He tells us that 

 he has found on his potatoes a large quantity of blue beasts (winged, and 

 the colour of blue stone), which rapidly devoured all the leaves of the plants, 

 leaving only the bare stems. He gathered more than a quart of these 

 insects. After some time, the insect undergoes a change. It dries in 

 the sun, an opening appears beside the shoulders, near the neck, and a 

 very active fly emerges, at first of a blue colour, which alights on the 

 cabbages, and doubtless continues its ravages there. As it grows older, 

 this fly becomes grass-coloured, probably on account of feeding on the 

 cabbage leaves. This subject is a most important one, and merits the 

 close attention of our agriculturists." 



What can the "active fly** be, which makes its appearance in such an 



