302 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



Food-plants of Homoptera. — Mr. E. D. Ball has lately been so 

 kind as to identify a number of Homoptera for me, and it seems worth 

 while to record the plants on which they occurred where these are 

 known : — 



(1.) Idiocerus alternatus, Fitch. Las Cruces, N.M., March 14th, 

 on osage-orange. {Ckll.) 



(2.) Eutettix piilchella, Baker. Mesilla, N.M., Aug. 26th, on 

 Popidus. [Ckll.) 



(3.) Ceresaturbida,GoAg. Eio Ruidoso, White Mts., N.M., Aug. 6th, 

 about 7000 ft., on brake-fern. (Townsend.) 



(4.) Centruchus perdita, A. & S. Eio Euidoso, N.M., July 18th, 

 about 6500 ft., beaten from Quercus gambeli. (Townsend.) 



(5.) Acutalisdorsalis, Fitch. La Cueva, Organ Mts.,N,M.,Aug. 30th, 

 about 5300 ft., beaten from Quercus. [Townsend.) I found this species 

 at Dripping Spring, Organ Mts., and it lived, not upon the oak itself, 

 but upon the Phoradendron growing on the oak. 



(6.) Thamnotettix coquilletti, V. D. Mesa, Arizona, Oct. 17th, on a 

 large-leafed Acer. [Ckll.) 



(7.) Deltocephalus fuscinervosus, V. D. Rio Bonito, N.M., Oct. 17th, 

 on Solidago. (Townsend.) — T. D. A. Cockerell ; E. Las Vegas, N.M., 

 Sept. 1900. 



AsPHONDYLiA MENTZELi^E, n. sp. — At Ratou, N.M., ou Aug. 27th, I 

 found that the ovaries of Mentzdia multiflora auctt. were considerably 

 infested by a Cecidomyiid, which, breeding in them, caused the flowers 

 to wither. The red-brown pupa-shells of the fly were seen sticking 

 out of the sides of the flowers, and I had the good fortune, at about 



6 p.m., to find a male fly which had just emerged from the pupa. It 

 was a pretty insect, with the thorax and abdomen pale pink ; abdomen 

 with white hairs ; legs whitish, tarsi more or less blackened ; wings 

 grey, hairy, second longitudinal vein reaching tip of wing, third 

 longitudinal vein forked a little beyond its middle, fold in region of 

 third longitudinal vein very distinct ; antennal segments cylindrical, 

 sessile, with sparse whorls of not very long hairs. Expanse about 



7 millim. As usual in Asphondylia, the characters of the adult fly are 

 not very distinctive, but the habitat in Mentzelia flowers will at once 

 distinguish this insect from all others. There was a small lepidopterous 

 larva also breeding in the ovaries of the Mentzelia, but it was not 

 abundant. — T. D. A. Cockerell. 



CAPTURES AND FIELD REPORTS. 



Notes prom Natal. — Referring to my notes [ante, p. 229), I wish to 

 say that the pupae I found turned out to be those of Zonilia accentifera, 

 and not of Nephele hesperus, as stated ; also that I bred, from larva found 

 on August 22nd, a slightly crippled female specimen of Basiana posticm. 

 This insect has the power of making a sound like that produced by 

 Acherontia atropos. I have had two evenings' sugaring during this month 

 (August), but so far as moths were concerned it was a failure. — Geo. F. 

 Leigh ; Durban, Natal. 



