iSgi.] ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. , 53 



Vanessa urtio^. — From Oakland, Cal., I received, two specimens of 

 a year ago. Tliey were taken in suburbs of Oakland by the children of a 

 friend of mine in the Summer or Autumn of 1889. They arrived with a 

 lot of diurnals containing a number of V. californica in the Spring of 

 1890, and, inasmuch as the most of those Vajiessa were oily, I did not 

 relax specimens until I had time to de-oil them, and when I discovered 

 V. urtiocc among the lot, was puzzled to know what they were. I had no 

 European specimens in my collection. It is fully forty years ago since I 

 took any in my native land, and had forgotten what little I then knew of 

 this species. I possess Emmons' " Agricult. Nat. History of New York," 

 in which an illustration is given, which agrees perfectly with my V. urtioce. 



In referring to Dr. H. Strecker's " Synonymical Catalogue of Macro- 

 lepidoptera" 1878, I find under genus Vanessa, page 133, the following 

 foot-note: "Emmons, in ' Agr. Nat. Hist.' N. Y., v, p. 209, t. 46 (.1854), 

 describes and figures V. urtioce, stating that it occurred in New York, — 

 of course erroneously, as no authenticated instance of its capture iti this 

 coimtry is knoivn.'' Italics are mine. 



My entomological literature is very limited, and I have no knowledge 

 whether its capture in this country is reported or not. I took a specimen 

 to the assistant of Mr. B. Neumoegen, Mr. J. Doll, and the latter con- 

 firmed that it was V. urtiocs, but doubted its occurrence in this country 

 until I assured him that it was taken in California. 



My friend or his children are not entomologists, and I had to instruct 

 them by letter where and how to capture Lepidoptera, and many of those 

 first received were anything but perfect specimens. In coloring, V. urtioce 

 are good, but devoid of antennae. One of those children had a fondness 

 for .studying msects, and I have succeeded in keeping him, a eleven-year 

 old boy, busy taking many nice specimens for me, inasmuch as he now 

 . understands better how to handle Lepidoptera. 



Richard E. Kunze, M.D. 



Mr. a. Sidney Olliff, late assistant in the museum, Sidney, Australia, 

 has been appointed to the newly-instituted ofiice of Government Ento- 

 mologist in the Department of Agriculture, New South Wales. His duties 

 will be chiefly the study of insects affecting fruits and crops, whether in- 

 jurious or beneficial, and publishing reports on the results of the informa- 

 tion of farmers and horticulturists. According to the latest news as to 

 the new insect pest, Mr. Olliff will not lack employment. 



Egg Parasites. — From a group of eggs similar to those sent to the 

 Academy, there escaped a number of flies kindly identified by Mr. L. O. 

 Howard as a new species of Hadronotus, a proctotrupid of the subfamily 

 Scelioninae. The present group, apparently alike, though lighter in color, 

 being found upon a green stem, was placed in a bottle with a little water 

 to maintain the vegetable growth. The eggs are of a light bronze color, 

 oval, with a network of surface markings and a crown of spines near the 

 upper end. From them hatched an equal number of hemipterous larvae 

 that at first gathered upon the underside of a leaf. Desiring to learn what 



