258 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 
SunFLowERS.—I would recommend every entomologist t 
grow sunflowers, on account of the number of insects which they 
attract. Diptera come to them in immense numbers. ‘They are 
also good baits for butterflies, particularly Vanesside ; on the 
other hand, I have never seen any of the Pieride near them. 
Bees are very fond of sunflowers, on account of the abundance of 
honey which they contain. I have observed numbers of bees to 
remain on these flowers for several hours together sipping the 
sweets, and in the end to become so intoxicated that they were 
unable to fly away. Many of the greedy insects get so covered 
with the pollen that they look like a mass of yellow. Sunflowers 
would make a good substitute for “‘sugaring” in gardens where 
there are no trees. ‘The Noctuz come to them in great numbers 
at dusk.—W. Harcourt Barn; Sutton Coldfield, Sept., 1886. 
Puacue oF Larva.—During the latter part of last year the 
large vineyard belonging to Don Federico Puga Borne, of Chillan, 
Chili, was attacked by so many larve of a species of Arctiide 
that the whole of the plants were entirely stripped of their leaves 
in a few days. Sefior Puga Borne offered the price of 20 cents 
a gallon for the larve to some boys, who immediately went to 
work, and in five days they collected no less than sixty bags full, 
equal to about forty-five bushels English measure. ‘Two dozen 
of the larve were sent to Santiago to the National Museum, and 
imagines have just emerged,—a species of Laora, Walker, and 
evidently new to Science, as it does not correspond to any of the 
four descriptions of Butler in the Trans. Ent. Soc. London, for 
the year i882, and which are the only known species of this 
genus from Chili. The larvee of the genus Laora appear to have 
a peculiarity of their own, and I have never observed it in the 
larva of any other genus. The peculiarity is, that the species 
appear to undergo the greater part of its metamorphosis in the 
larval state; for when full-fed they climb up the sides of the 
breeding cage, and there remain without moving and without 
food for three, and even four months, at the end of which time 
they begin to spin their cocoon, and in a few days the imagines 
begin to appear, so that when full-fed they either appear to need 
ripening or are preparing the silk for their cocoons; but then why 
so long—from three to four months—in the larval state after 
once fed? When in the pupal state they rarely, if ever, pass 
