Jan., '04] ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. 17 



third to collapse and topple over, thus effectually closing the 

 mouth of the tube. This habit was not noticed in time to 

 ascertain how general it is, but the straightness of the groove 

 and the evident care exercised to make this girdling operation 

 complete, is not exaggerated in the drawing on Plate III. 

 The cocoon is flimsily constructed, either in or just above the 

 corky frass which fills the tube for several inches. The pupa 

 is pale amber-brown, the colors and markings of the moth 

 showing through before emergence. It is worthy of note that 

 both Prof. Riley and Dr. Mellichamp describe the larva of 

 E. semicrocea as closing the mouth of 6". variolaris (Plate 

 III, right hand figure) by fastening down the hood of the 

 pitcher with .silk, no trace of which habit was observed in 

 ^. flava. 



Of 5". sarracenicB and E. semicrocea in relation to Sarracenia 

 variolaris, Riley says : ' ' These two insects are the only spe- 

 cies of any size that can invade the death -dealing trap with 

 impunity, while the leaf is in full vigor." At least one other 

 insect makes its home in 5". flava, however ; for of some hun- 

 dreds of leaves cut open, four or five contained the nest of a 

 solitary wasp. In each case the wasp had plugged the bottom 

 of the tube, usually with fine dry grass, — in one instance with, 

 sphagnum moss ; the three to five cells were divided by loosely 

 packed masses of the same material, and the top closed with a 

 tightly packed wad. The cells of one nest were packed with 

 freshly gathered tree-crickets {CEcanthus) , and in the one in- 

 stance where the builder could be identified this proved to be 

 Isodo7itia philadelphiais Lep. (Plate III, nest and wasp). 



The above observations are the result of a few hours spent 

 ' among the pitcher-plants of Richmond County, North Caro- 

 lina, in the month of August. Anyone who has opportunity 

 to observe them throughout the season, and especially in the 

 earh' spring, would doubtless make many interesting discove- 

 ries in regard to these most curious plants and their insect 

 visitors and victims. There is a problem for someone to work 

 out in regard to the relation between the plants and certain 

 ants whose colonies adjoin them, and there is a great deal 

 more to be added to these necessarily fragmentary notes. 



