1916 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 45 



at last. Another clump was pulled up, two more larvae and so on, as many as eight 

 being taken in one clump and no blanks, every clump seemed to be attacked. 

 Other plants noticed here and there on the way home were examined and proved to 

 harbour larvae in their roots. There was, henceforth, no shadow of doubt as to the 

 home of the stramentosa. But what was the plant's name? I tried to determine 

 it by Gray's Manual of Botany, but was misled by the square stem in trying to 

 locate it among the members of the Mint family. A specimen was sent to the 

 Dominion Botanist and Mr. Adams kindly determined it as belonging to the genus 

 Scrophularia, but did not like to state the species owing to the absence of flowers. 

 'On referring to Britton and Brown's Botany, our plant was easily recognized by 

 the cut and description as being S. leporella — the hare figwort — but to make 

 doubly sure, the original description was turned up in Vol. 33, p. 317, Bulletin 

 of Torrey Botanical Club (1896) — so stramentosa may be given the common name 

 of the " Fig-wort borer." 



As I was leaving town for my holidays within a few days, the bulk of the larvge 

 and roots were packed up and sent to Mr. Bird, only a few being kept as I felt sure 

 that on my return any desired quantity of full-grown larvae could be secured and 

 that the pupae would be likewise found in due season. Mr. Bird was away on a 

 Papaipema hunt in Illinois when the package arrived, but his son looked after it 

 and was successful in obtaining the imagos and so quickly that we might almost 

 suspect that he used an incubator in his anxiety to get the first bred stramentosa. 

 On my return I found several larvae had pupated, while the rest died of starvation 

 owing to the drying up of the roots. A series of wet days and other contingencies 

 prevented my getting any time to visit my hunting-ground till Saturday, August 

 20th, by which time it was supposed all would be in pupa. In the first clump 

 selected a larva was found and evidence that there had been another, so I proceeded 

 to get out my entrenching tool and began scraping away the earth carefully. At 

 a depth of about two inches a fine yellowish-brown pupa lay exposed, wriggling 

 about in a very lively fashion as if not at all appreciating being disturbed. Pro- 

 ceeding to a nearby clump resulted in two more — then six, which is the most found 

 under one plant, and in the course of three-quarters of an hour, thirty had been 

 boxed. Reluctantly we were compelled to stop, as the drizzling rain which had 

 been falling was becoming heavier and the vegetation was decidedly moist to work 

 among. The pupae were all found in the same situation as the first, namely not 

 over two inches below the surface, invariably on their sides, without any cocoon or 

 cell and wriggling much when disturbed. All were within a foot's radius from 

 middle of root. The question occurred: how would the moths emerge from those 

 earthy homes? Would they force their way through the soil or would instinct tell 

 the pupffi to come to the surface ? Having brought home a supply of soil from the 

 woods a layer was put in two breeding cages, 18 pupfc were placed in one cage and 

 12 in the other, all in a horizontal position, and were covered with about two inches 

 of soil and on top was an inch or more of the prepared fibre, sold by the florist for 

 growing bulbs. This I find an excellent material for keeping burying pupae moist 

 enough without inducing mold. Two days later the question was answered. 

 Seventeen of the pupae were visible, some, were on their sides, but most of them 

 were nearly vertical, tail up. To what extent the crcmastcr aids the tunneling 

 process was not ascextained, but its structure is suggestive that it might be useful. 



On August 30th my first moth appeared. The following evening I went 

 straight from the office to the woods but it was nearly 6.30 when the ground was 

 reached and four pupae were all that were secured in what remained of the daylight. 

 The next Saturday afternoon, September 4th, Ava> warm and bright, rather too 



