208 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



from Catagalla, in Brazil. They are accompanied by an 

 abundance of Microgaster that does not seem to differ from 

 the one of Europe, but the cluster is much larger and more 

 closely united, and looks like a compact tuft of cotton. — 

 Francis Walker. 



Note on Phylloxera Quercus. — Phylloxera Quercus will 

 probably be soon observed more than hitherto in England, 

 on account of the observations of Balbiani with reference to 

 it, and on account of its affinity to the much-dreaded 

 Phylloxera vastatrix, on which Riley has this year bestowed 

 fifty-six pages in the sixth annual report on the ' Insects of 

 Missouri;' yet he remarks that the full history of Phylloxera 

 has yet to be written. Phylloxera is nearly allied to Chermes, 

 on which Leuckart long ago made some interesting researches; 

 and P. Quercus agrees with Chermes as to the mode of life in 

 the winter generation. The appearance of P. Quercus this 

 year was somewhat earlier than usual : it was abundant in 

 the beginning of July, when, in addition to the generally- 

 distributed whitish blotches caused by Orchestes Quercus, 

 oak trees may be seen here and there with leaves covered by 

 yellow spots, (each of which, sometimes fifty in number on 

 one leaf, shows the presence of a Phylloxera on the under 

 side. There the mother sits, surrounded by concentric 

 circles of eggs, sometimes one hundred in number, and in 

 that case there might be five thousand eggs under one leaf; 

 but this, perhaps, never happens : sometimes the mother has 

 no eggs about her, and then the yellow spot is limited to the 

 size of her body ; sometimes the mother has disappeared 

 from the eggs; sometimes a Scymnus(?) larva appropriates 

 one by one the whole cluster of eggs, and then the mother 

 has desolation all around her, Callipterus Quercus and The- 

 laxes dryophila appear now and then in company with the 

 Phylloxera: the Thelaxes not only frequents oak-apples, but 

 also feeds on incipient acorns, and on incipient galls of 

 Dryophanta folii. — Id. 



Rearing Larva in Earthenware Pots. — I suppose most ento- 

 mologists have found jam-pots, or the ordinary garden-pots, 

 covered with leno or muslin, and with a little earth at the 

 bottom if the habits of the species require it, to be convenient 

 in many respects for the rearing of larvae not too young. 

 They are especially suitable when twigs or stems of the 



