1908 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 51 



The following description of tlie caterpillar was taken from the speci- 

 men received from Dr. Hamilton in July, 1906 : 



Length, 32 mm. Head, rounded, chestnut brown, shining, mouth parts 

 darker. Body : a dirty, creamy colour, with a pinkish tinge on dorsum, except 

 at intersegmental folds. Thoracic shield pale brown, margined anteriorly 

 with dark brown. Tubercles pale brown, each with a single pale hair. 

 Tubercle lY on seventh abdominal segment is almost as large as the upper 

 half of the spiracle, the upper edge being slightly above the upper edge of 

 the spiracle. Spiracles black. Anal shield blackish. Dorsal vessel dis- 

 tinct. Xo markings whatever on the body. Feet all pale. 



A description of the larva from Mr. St. George was also taken, but the 

 only differences which my notes show, are that the thoracic shield was mar- 

 gined in front with black, and the body noted as being greenish-white with 

 a rosy tint above spiracles except at intersegmental folds. 



The moth reared from garden peas from Westport, N.S., was submitted 

 to Mr. Henry Bird, who reported upon it as follows: "The Nova Scotian 

 specimen looks like medialis. A series might be quite convincing." As 

 this left some doubt about the exact determination of the moth, a specimen 

 was sent to Sir George Hampson, of the British Museum, who determined 

 it as Hydrcccia micacea, Esp., with the statement that it was "exactly like 

 European specimens." 



In Miss Ormerod's Report for 1898, an account of injury to potatoes 

 by Hydrrrcia micacea is given, under the popular name of the Potato-stem 

 Borer. This outbreak which occurred at Fyvie, Aberdeen, Scotland, is 

 described as having been destructive to the growing crop of potatoes, espe- 

 cially in gardens. The injury had been noticed every season for some years 

 and a careful examination invariably showed that the damage had been 

 done by the borer. Miss Ormerod quotes from Mr. Richard South : "This 

 species is known to feed in larval stage in Dock and species of Equisetum." 

 In Stainton's "Manual of Butterflies and Moths," vol. 1, p. 198, the larvse 

 are said to feed "in the roots of various Cyperaceae." In Kappel and Kirby's 

 "British and European Butterflies and Moths," it is stated that the larva 

 "lives in the roots of Glyceria spectahilis, Iris, etc." 



The moth which is known as the Rosy Rustic is stated to be "common 

 and widely distributed in Central and Northern Europe in August and 

 September." Miss Ormerod says: "The moth is from an inch and a quarter 

 to a little over an inch and a half in expanse of the forewings, which are 

 variously described as of a pale brown ground color with a rosy tinge, or of 

 a 'rich, reddish brown'; on the wing is a 'broad dark patch', otherwise 

 described as a 'broad median band', the outer portion being 'very rich, dark 

 brown'. Hind wings 'whitish grey with darker central line', or 'dingy grey 

 brown with a darker crescentic discoidal spot and transverse median bar' ; 

 the antenupe nearly white." 



The above occurrences of Hydrrrcia micacea in Canada are, as far as 

 we know, the onlv American records of this insect. 



