124 



PSYCHE. 



[August iSqi. 



altogether destitute of elongated hairs 

 on that part, the antennas however are 

 widely different. I do not remember 

 to have met with the third sp. of J5L. 

 you mention ; but your description of 

 the Bombyx agrees perfectly with B. Jo 

 of authors, yet, I cannot suppose that 

 Profess'r Peck was unacquainted w. 

 that insect which is so common in na- 

 sure & familial" in the books ; if indeed 

 it is not that species it is without doubt 

 new. 



Fabr. did not live to publish his Sys- 

 tema Glossatorum, but the work was 

 left in manuscript, & was finally publ'd, 

 I think, by Illiger, but I have never met 

 with it, & have therefore, with you, to 

 rely entirely on the Edinb. Encyc. for 

 his genera. Coquebert in his Decades 

 proposes to illustrate the works of Fabr. 

 by figures ; his figures are good & 

 represent the genera as they stood at 

 that time, but so many divisions have 

 been since made that the book might 



lead to error if implicitly relied upon. 

 I have seen but one copy of this work, 

 A; doubt much if it can be purchased in 

 this country. I have no idea of the 

 price in Europe. It is a folio vol. 

 & contains if I remember rightly 30 

 plates. 



The number of the Journal A. N. S. 

 containing Mr. Worth's obs's on the 

 Peach tree destroyer will be published 

 about Tuesday next. I thank you for 

 mentioning the name of the work in 

 wh. Prof. Peck published his desc's, we 

 have the Jour. Mass. Agric. Soc. here 

 & I can refer to them. 



To communicate any information I 

 may possess to those who are in pursuit 

 of knowledge in Zoology, affords me, I 

 assure you, much gratification, I there- 

 fore hope that you will not scruple to 

 command me freely, though on the 

 other hand such are the nature of my 

 avocations I cannot promise always to 

 answer promptly. 



SOME OF THE EARLY STAGES OF ZERENE CATENARIA. 



BY SAMUEL H. SCUDDER. 



On September 24, 1S59, I raised a 

 female of this species, and kept her in 

 confinement. On the third day she be- 

 gan to lay eggs and in the next two or 

 three days laid 259 of them. Two years 

 afterwards I placed a similar female, as 

 soon as born, alone in a large box with 

 a sprig of sweet fern ( Comptonia as- 

 fileni folia), but her eggs were in all 

 cases dropped loose in the box. The 

 eggs are about 0.75 mm. in height > 



ovato-spheroidal, truncate at base, very 

 minutely punctured, and of a somewhat 

 pale pea-green color. None hatched. 



The caterpillar is very common on 

 sweet fern, and is said by Packard to 

 feed upon Car ex penny slvanica, and 

 also on "blackberry, woodwax, wild in- 

 digo, etc." It lives solitarily, though 

 many are often found upon a single 

 plant, and when full grown may be fre- 

 quently seen extended in a straight rigid 



