70 THE REPORT OF THE No. 36 



1 have told of some of the natural objects that engaged my attention during 

 my residence in a retired country-place. There were many others that I may not 

 tell of now. In searching them out, and studying them, I was never at a loss for 

 amusement; and the remembrance of them gives me pleasure still. I would say 

 to every head of a family, who is in a position to follow the advice : Take your wife 

 and children to the country every summer for change and relaxation, and that 

 they may follow Nature Studies at first hand. They will soon feel, as Shakespeare 

 felt when he penned the words that have been so often quoted, but are so beautiful 

 that they cannot become hackneyed — 



" This our life, exempt from public haunt, 

 Finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, 

 Sermons in stones, and good In everything." 



— As You Like It, Act II., Sc. 1 



A HYMEN OPTEROUS PARASITE OF HEPlALUS THULE. 

 Albert F. WinxV, Westmoukt, Que. 



The late Dr. H. G. Knaggs in his " Lepidopterists' Guide," says that the grand 

 secret of successful insect collecting lies in one little word — Why? The statement 

 is so very true that it is rather a wonder that the word has not been adopted as a 

 motto for some Entomological Society ; perhaps, however, it is beet left as common 

 property for all. 



In studying up the habits and history of our special Montreal insect Hepialus 

 thulc, we have been confronted with many questions, but we now know and have 

 published sufficient particulars to show that instead of being an exceedingly rare 

 insect it occurs in its own peculiar localities in vast numbers, and its life 

 history is known except the larva from after the first moult till it becomes about 

 five-eighths of an inch long. 



One question that has bothered us for many years in connection with this 

 moth ie — Why should the Hepialidge lay so many eggs? Most moths lay about 

 300, but the ghost moths lay over 2,000, which on the average must mean that 

 1,998 fail to produce imagos out of the 2,000. Wliat enemies have they more than 

 their relatives that makes this provision necessary? Before their habits were 

 known, it was thought that they bored in the trunks of some of the large trees, 

 much as do the Cossidge or goat moths, and the Avoodpeckers were suggested as 

 doing more than their share of destroying the larva?. But down below or at the 

 surface of the ground the caterpillars in the stems and roots of the swamp willows 

 are perfectly safe from woodpeckers. 



It seems quite possible that the largest loss of life occurs in the tiny larvre 

 freshly hatched from the g^^ failing to find a suitable supply of food, for Mrs. 

 Ghost Moth is apparently an improvidential mother, and does not as most moths 

 and butterflies do, namely, deposit the eggs on the particular plant whereon the 

 larvas feed. The Hepialid females fly about dropping the eggs to the ground as 

 they go, resting a few moments and starting off again in great arcs of a circle. 

 Whether the little larvfe can sustain life by nibbling at such food as may come in 

 .their way till they strike a willow root we do not know, neither do we know whether 

 any creature makes a meal of the minute eggs so carelessly scattered, but a great 

 many larvge do find their way into suitable quarters as is evidenced by the labyrinth 

 of tunnels found when a clump of willows is dug up and split open. 



