On Pronuba Yuccasella. 141 



attempt to form a new group ou insufficient material. We are, hoAvever. 

 quite confident, that when properl}' understood tliey will form a very 

 distinct genus. 



Formation and locality: Found in the soft shales of the upper part 

 of the Hudson River Group, in Clinton Co., Ohio. 



OJS- PBOXUBA YUCCASELLA {RILEY), AND THE 



HABITS OF SOME TINEINA. 



By V. T. Chambers.* 



In the Transactions of the St. Louis Academy of Science, vol. 3, p. 

 568, which I have just received, is a paper which perhaps requires 

 some response from me. It is entitled " Further Remarks on Pronuba 

 yuccasella, and on the pollenization of yucca," and is from the pen of 

 m}' friend, Mr. C. V. Rile}", State Entomologist of Missouri, and chief of 

 the U. S. Entomological Commission, popularl}' known as the " Hopper 

 Commission," and like other things, from the same distinguished source, 

 is marked by ability and accuracy, as well as by a somewhat ex cathedra 

 enunciation of opinion. I will not, however, quarrel with him for 

 that; he is the founder of the very interesting genus and species, Pro- 

 nuba yuccasella, and naturally enough seems to feel a sort of paternal 

 solicitude for his scientific progeny; and woe betide the unluckj^ wight 

 who ventures to trespass on this, his own peculiar demesne, as others 

 beside I, and notablj^ Prof Zeller and poor Mr. Boll, have feelingly 

 discovered, even in this verj- paper in the St. Louis Transactions. In- 

 deed, in consideration of the punishment meted out to Prof Zeller and 

 Mr. Boll, I ought, perhaps, to thank Mr. Riley for letting me off with 

 simply, as it were, an admonitor}- spank. But enough of this badinage. 

 Entomologists ai-e said to be a peculiarl}^ waspish people, the aculeate 

 h3'meijoptera of mankind. Do but look at one, and the barbed aculeus 

 shows its threatening point. Lest, therefore, Mr. Riley should misap- 

 prehend the spirit in which I write, and be tempted to administer some- 

 thing more than an admonition, I desist. 



In his 5th Report, as State Entomologist, Mr. Riley describes Pro- 

 nuba yuccasella as " having the front wings uniforml}^ silvery white." 

 In vol. 3, of the Bulletin of the U. S. Geological and Geographical Sur- 

 ve}^ of the Territories, I have mentioned the occurrence in Colorado of 

 numerous specimens having the wings more or less spotted with black; 

 and in the paper in the St. Louis Transactions, before mentioned, Mr. 

 Riley denies that the spotted specimens belong to Pronuba, and states 



♦[Read at the November, 1877, Meeting of the Cincinnati Society of Natural History.] 



