RANDOM NOTES ON NATURAL HISTORY. 



THE RHODE ISLAND ENTOMOLOGICAL 

 SOCIETY 



have held their regular meetings. At the 

 last session Mr. Wm. Smith exhibited ten 

 species of small moths, taken at night near 

 Providence, about April 10th, by means of 

 a lure. 



Mr. S. Schofield read a paper before 

 the Societ}- relative to some experiments he 

 has made with the eggs and larvffi of 

 Ceratocampa imperiaUs. Fifty or sixty 

 eggs had been obtained from a moth so 

 injured by the electric lamp as to be worth- 

 less as a cabinet specimen. The fluid con- 

 tents of the egg impart to it a bright am- 

 ber-yellow color, the shell, unlike that of 

 the egg of the silk-producing moths, e. g., 

 the cerropia, being transparent. As the larva 

 becomes developed it can be seen coiled up 

 within the shell, which it proceeds to 

 perforate when full}^ developed, making an 

 aperture sufficiently large to allow the 

 passage of the head, the largest portion of 

 the larva. After its exit, in man}- cases the 

 larva continued to eat the shell, obeying, the 

 reader thought, a similar instinct to that 

 which prompts the larvae of other moths to 

 eat their discarded skins after moulting. 



At first the horns of the imperiaUs larvfe 

 are soft and feebly developed, but rapidly 

 become elongated and strengthened, at the 

 same time changing markedly in color. 



The reader described very graphically a 

 few proofs of the belligerent propensities 

 shown b}' the larvse while under observa- 

 tion, and instanced the apparent possession 

 of considerable thinking power. Unlike 

 other larviie, which blindly strike from side 

 to side when disturbed, the imperiaUs uses 

 its horns in a manner calculated to do the 

 greatest harm to its adversary. As the lar- 

 vae grew older, the}' grew wiser as well, and 

 in their battles one would with his mandi- 

 bles seize his opponent at about the middle 

 of the body, and holding him for a moment 

 suspended over the edge of the leaf, dash 

 him spitefully to the table below. The 

 reader questioned if such encounters in na- 

 ture might not explain the scarcity and iso- 

 lation of the imperiaUs larva. One thrown 

 to the ground from a tree, if surviving its 

 injuries, would probably perish from being 

 deprived of its food. 



Man}' larvse, especially when young, de- 

 posit a silken thread as they travel. The 



imperiaUs does this, and after biting into the 



edge of a leaf, usually at its base, the larva 



always returns to this spot to feed, guided 



j by the silken thread. Always before feed- 



I ing on a fresh leaf a fine network of silk 



j was first woven over the point of attack, and 



to this the silken trail was attached. 



The reader in conclusion quoted from Al- 

 fred Wailly's Report in the Journal of the 

 Society of Arts ^ a description of the Cerato- 

 campa imperiaUs in its ditterent stages, and 

 called attention to the possibility of the lar- 

 vae being not only carnivorous but also 

 cannibalistic, when crowded. The larvae 

 seemed to thrive best on the oak or willow, 

 though in nature they feed on the button- 

 wood. 



The paper was rendered particularly in- 

 teresting by the introduction of several 

 large drawings during the reading, notably 

 of the larva coiled up within the egg, and 

 seen through the transparent shell, and also 

 representations of various battle- fields. 



H. T. 



THE LONSDALE BOTANICAL AND FIELD 

 NATURALIST SOCIETY 



held their regular meetings March 1 7th and 

 April 14th. 



Beside other matters of interest, the 

 Vice-President, Mr. James Moss, read a 

 paper on " Local Trees," describing about 

 fourteen species, the localities where they 

 are found, and the practical use of various 

 kinds of timber ; he also named many 

 botanical specimens. Among them some 

 Epigcea repens in full bloom, and taking up a 

 piece of smilax (MyrsiphylUim) , he pointed 

 out the difference in position between stems 

 and leaves, and how easily one may, without 

 close observation, be deceived by them. 



In connection with the report of the 

 Lonsdale Botanical and Field Naturalist 

 Society, we would add that the Myrsiphyl- 

 Uim^ or smilax of green-houses, gives an ex- 

 cellent illustration of abortion ; the leaves 

 being only represented by small bract-like 

 organs, in the axils of which are the 

 broadly expanded and highly specialized 

 stems, performing the function of true 

 leaves. 



This plant also illustrates the confusion 

 arising from the use of names given by 

 those unfamiliar with the nature of plants. 

 Thus, the smilax of the city is entirely dif- 



