ENTOMOLOGIST AND BOTANIST. 



241 



depend on ni)' sketch in tliis respect. It gives a 

 coiTect view (longitudinal sections) of one of two 

 adjoining borings in a piece of sniootli regularly- 

 grained wood. Henisv Gillman. 



[These larvae arc inlercsliiig fnini the fact tliat 

 they evidently belong to a genus (Colydium) of 

 beetles whicli have long been known to bore 

 under the bark of trees in the larva state, but 

 have never been described as boring in such a 

 regular manner, the passages described by Mr. 

 G. very closely resembling those of the Pine 

 Timber-beetle {Tomicus materiarius. Filch). 

 "We shall be glad to receive numerous living 

 specimens of the lavvie and also specimens of 

 the perforated wood, and hope that Mr. G. will 

 make some effort to rear, or capture upon the 

 tree, the perfect insect during the summer, as 

 there are only three described N. A. .species, the 

 liabits of none of which are known. — Ed.] 



Pupa of the Girdlkd Sphinx — Vinehind, A''. 

 J. April -i, 1870. — Last fall there was brought 

 to me the largest larva of some Spliin.x I ever 

 saw. It was almost black in c^olor, and was with- 

 out caudal born. I think it \V(ndd have weighed 

 as nuu'h as a full grown specimen of the Koyal 

 Horned-cateri)illar. To-day I unearthed it and 

 found the chrysalis dead. The chrysalis is bkack, 

 or nearly so, and about a tliird larger than that 

 of the Tomato-worm moth {Sphinx b-macidata) . 

 I cannot lind anything' in Morris's Synopsis that 

 answers to a description of cither the larva or 

 chrysalis. 1 enclose the tongue-case, hojiing you 

 may recognize it by this. 



Mrs. Mary Treat. 



[From the description of tlie larva, and the 

 character of the pupa tongue-case, the terminal 

 half of which is curled up under the breast to- 

 wards the head, we have little doubt that the 

 insect is the Girdled Sphinx {S. cinyulata, Linn.) 

 which you will tind descriljed on page 188 of 

 Morris's Synopsis, under the generic name of 

 Macrosila, and where it is said to feed on Sweet- 

 potato. — Ed.] 



To KILL THE Pea-weevil — Vineland, JSf. J. — 

 I think I have a much better way of killing the 

 Pea-weevil than I»Irs. Chai^pelsmith. When I 

 collect m)' seed I pour boiling water over them ; 

 this does not in the least injure the seed, and 

 kills all the larva?. But I do not see that there is 

 nmch use in one person doing this, for my peas 

 are generally stung from my neighbor's "bugs."' 



M. T. 



No Apple Plant-lice — Champaign, Illinois, 

 May 16, 70. — I have been unable to tind a single 

 specimen of Aphis mati this jear, and do not 

 believe that " scab'' can be produced by it. 



II. J. 1). 



The Puilenor Swallow-tail — Error Cor- 

 rected — Baltimore, Md.^ May 14, '70. — Allow 

 me to express my gTatitication at the improve- 

 ment in the Entomologist by the addition of 

 Botany. It is like a neat, well-cultivated patch 

 ot garden to a convenient <lwelling-house, not 

 rendering the latter more comfortable inside, but 

 adding cheerfulness and neatness outside. I 

 ought, however, to call your attention to <an error 

 which has crept into your columns. In your 

 note on page 175, you say: "Mr. Parker h.as 

 been led into error by the English rendering in 

 Morris's Synopsis," " because Boisduval men- 

 tions no such character in the original French." 

 Now, if I added Avithout authority that the tail 

 was whitish at base, it could not well be an "er- 

 ror in rendering," but an unwarrantable addition. 

 Boisduval, in liis Species General des Lcpidop- 

 th-es Diurnes (Paris, 1836), when describing 

 Philenor, does not mention the liict that the tail 

 is whitish at base, but I did not translate my 

 description from this book, but from Boisduval 

 et LeConte's Iconographie des L(fpidopUres de 

 V Ame'rique Septentrionale, where he says " les 

 queues sont courtes, i-troites, iioires, bordees de 

 blanc a leur base.'' Was I in error'? Was not 

 Mr. P. right? Are you not wrong? 



Dr. Jno. G. Morris. 



[You are not in error; Mr. P. was right, and 

 we arc Avi'ong — in part, Unlike the Pope, we do 

 not claim infallibility, and it always gives us 

 pleasure to have our mistakes corrected, especi- 

 ally when, as in this case, they question the 

 accuracy of fellow-workers. AVc do not possess 

 the work from whicli you translated, and as the 

 description in the Synopsis is credited to "Bois- 

 duval'' alone, and not to "Boisduval et LeConte," 

 we made the unpardonable blunder of inferring 

 that the description was condensed from the first 

 mentioned work, which is the only one we know 

 of by Boisduval himself, wherein Philenor is 

 desciibed. We were furthermore led into ei-ror 

 by the description "whitish at base," instead of 

 "bordered with white at their base," and would 

 respectfully ask friend Morris whether there is 

 not ^'■jest a leetle" difference between the two 

 phrases. lu reality the tail is bordered more or 

 less at base by the cream-colored sinuses each 

 side, and so it is in almost all our different species 

 of the genus Papilio; and yet their tails are not 

 described as "whitish at base." We all slop 

 over sometimes. — Ed.] 



A Rare Captitre — Kvanston, Ills., May 17th, 

 1870. — Allow me to add to our Illinois Butterflies 

 the beautiful Limenitis proserpina, Edwards. 

 I liave collected assiduously around here for 

 three years, and never met Avifh Init one speci- 

 men. E. G. Boutell. 



