ENTOMOLOGTCAL SOCIETY OF ONTARIO. 13 



Among the immature larvae that shew themselves in the early spring are those of 

 Euprepia coja, Linn. On their first appearance at that season they are black, and about 

 three fourths of an inch in length. They crawl out upon the side-walks, and upon the 

 floors of out-build ings. 



Some years ago I brought a batch of this species from the egg to perfection. They 

 hibernated — if I remember rightly — after the second moult. 



In the spring of 1891 I collected some larvae of like appearance and habits, thinking 

 I would raise a few more specimens of the moth. These larvae moulted on the 4th of 

 May, and shewed a broad side-line of red hairs, so I knew that I had been mistaken in 

 supposing them to belong to E. caja. They again moulted on May 20th. On emergence 

 from the old skins the heads and legs of the larvae were honey-yellow, but they soon 

 changed to jet black. On the 17th of June after having drawn, in every instance, a few 

 leaves together for a tent, they went into chrysalis without spinning a cocoon. The 

 chry8alid was blue-black with a bloom like that of an Orleans plum. The larval skin 

 remained attached to the extremity of the chrysalis case. On July 10th the perfect insect 

 appeared. It was Arclia virQo, Linn. 



Speaking of larvae, I would tell of the strange winter- quarters of a caterpillar of a 

 noctuid which I found early in the year. The year before I had obtained a specimen of 

 that very rare hymenopterous parasite, Sphecophagus prcedator, Zabriskie. From its 

 position when I found if, 1 judged that it must have come either from a nest of Vespa 

 media, Oliv., or from a mud castle of j'elopeus cementarius, Drury, both of which I was 

 keeping in a window of my study. Hoping to obtain more specimens of Praelator, I 

 collected in the winter all the wasps' nests I could. Snugly coiled up in a cell of one of 

 those brought to me was the larva I am telling of. It became active in the warmth of 

 my room, but I had nothing among my house-plants that it would feed upon, and it soon 

 perished. 



May the 1st wa3 a bright, cold day. Frogs were croaking amid the broken ice and 

 masses of snow in the pools, and large banks of snow lay in the woods. The poplars„ 

 birches and alders were in catkin, and the leaf-buds of the red elder (Sarnbucus pubens p 

 Michx.), near the ground, were opening. On this day I saw on the sunny side of a stem 

 a specimen of Vanessa Antiopa, Linn., bright in colour, and without a flaw. 



After the 1st of May vegetation progressed by leaps and bounds, and insect appear- 

 ances multiplied. By the 13th such delicate forms as Lycozwx marginata, Edw., Nemorla 

 gratata, Walker, Rheumaptera inter mediata, Gn., etc , were on the wing. On this date I 

 saw a pair of Osmia proxima, Cresson, in coit'i restiog upon willow catkins. At the 

 same time larvae of Posdisca saligneana, OLemens, which had remained through the winter 

 enclosed in webs within their galls on Solidago, left their domiciles and buried themselves 

 in the soil. The images appeared on the 30th of May. 



On the 15th of May a specimen of Feniseca Tarquinius, Fab., appeared in my 

 breeding-cage. As the chrysalid had been out of doors all the winter this marks the date, 

 of appearance of the early brood of the species. 



Lobophora angulineala, Grt., was common on the bolls of spruce trees on the 19th y 

 and on the 21st Lobophora atroliturata y Walker, appeared. 



On the 20th a full grown larva feeding upon choke cherry (Padm Virginiana, L.) 

 was brought to me. The next day it buried itself and went into chrysalis, f he following 

 is a description of it : Length an inch and three quarters. Head, rather small, brown. 

 Body plump and smooth. Oolour, light drab. Spiracles outlined with dark brown. 

 Just above them is a dark brown narrow side-line. On each segment a transverse dark 

 brown line runs backward to a sub-dorsal line of lighter brown. On each segment along 

 the back and pointing backward is a light brown V-like mark, with a pale patch on each 

 side of it. 



The larva could not have attained its growth in the fortnight in which the choke- 

 cherry had been in foliage — it must have hibernated. 



