178 THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



MISCELLANEOUS NOTES 



Polyhistor ? — In the September number of the Canadian Ento- 

 mologist, the State Entomologist of Missouri, who is a stranger to me, 

 asserts that " there is something rather incoherent in my articles — that I 

 have committed serious errors," and, furthermore, tryit I "must not talk 

 of the family of Hymenoptera." When 1 write for the Entomologist, it is 

 not with the intention of leading others astray, or of committing error; and 

 after all consideration, I doubt if my significations would be looked upon 

 as incongruous by the majority of my Entomological colleagues. I have 

 no knowledge of Mr. Riley's definition of " family," and I care not 

 to which of the theories he may have a leaning. I hold my own, and 

 have a perfect right to talk of the Family of Hymenoptera. In following 

 up this cause, perhaps this Naturalist would have the kindness to correct 

 me with more distinctness, when next he publishes strictures upon my 

 Entomological Notes, and state, for general information, how many families 

 of Hymenoptera exist on this continent. 



I am told that 1 ''ought to know that curculionidous larvae do not spin 

 silken cocoons,'' and furthermore, that T " carelessly overlooked the legs" 

 of the larva which I described on page 65, because it happens that inqui- 

 1 incus Lepidopterous larvae take possession of acorns after they have 

 fallen from the tree. On the 31st of March, the larvae were of two kinds, 

 and three sizes were found in the acorns of the White Oak in this latitude, 

 and I am not astray in stating that a larva of an unknown Coleopterous 

 insect did spin a cocoon within an acorn. 



In the October number of the Entomologist, Mr. Riley expresses his 

 sorrow for having rashly and inconsistently contradicted a matter with 

 which he was not thoroughly acquainted. Having no knowledge of the 

 existence in this country of a silk-spinning snout-beetle, and, as every 

 Entomologist ought to be conscientious, he thought he should be, even at 

 the ninth hour, and discovers good European authority stating that snout- 

 beetles do spin silken cocoons, or at least, close their nidus with some 

 substance resembling silk. In the September number of the Entomolo- 

 gist, p. 118, he tells us that the acorn weevil is Balaninus rectus Say, and 

 that it is found in the acorns of one of the oaks in his State. Fortunately, 

 at this juncture, Mr. Pettit, of Grimsby, comes to my aid, and throws 

 additional light on this important inquiry, by the discovery of Balaninus 



