42 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



information, the synonymy of P. costipunctana with galli- 

 colana, as in Doubleday's list and many German authors, is 

 incorrect, Haworth's insect being a distinct species. 



Hemiptera. 



TJirips sp. — These hltle pests have now been ascertained 

 to belong to the order Thysanoptera, separate from Hemiptera, 

 Homoplera, and Orthoptera, each of which it resembles in 

 some characteristics. 



Aphis sp. — The species bred by Walker was no doubt 

 Thelaxes (Vacnna) dryophila, Sclik., an oak-frequenting 

 species, which feeds on the twigs, leaves, and fruit; it has 

 also been found feeding on the substance of these and folii 

 galls. No doubt other species of Aphides, now included in 

 the genus Ilonioptera, may be found in and on oak-apples 

 occasionally ; but T. dryophila is the only species recorded 

 as being dependent on them for sustenance, as far as 1 know. 



Psi/lla . — 1 am unable to find any true Psylla 



(Ilomoptera) connected with oak. 



The object I have had in view throughout these notes has 

 not been so much the embodying of new information as the 

 collating of old, to serve as a starting-point for more extended 

 and confirmatory observation. The interest of parasitism, 

 which affects all orders of insects, is very apparent in the 

 " life in an oak-apple." 



E. A. Fitch. 



injury to Linen in Bleach Fields hij ihe Larva of Arctia 

 rnhiijinosa. By Edward Newman. 



[An application for advice on this subject having been 

 made to the Editor of the 'Field' newspaper, and having 

 been handed me for my opinion, I wrote to Mr. Eccles, from 

 whom the application originally came, soliciting further 

 information, and asking permission to publish the same. In 

 reply I received the following interesting and explicit letter, 

 to which 1 have appended a few observations of my own, 

 regretting, however, their insufficiency and inconipleteness. 

 Still, however, I think it will not be considered an unim- 

 portant step to have ascertained the name and nature of an 

 insect that can cause so great an injury, more es])ecially as it 



