102 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF ONTARIO. 



round, white eggs at the base of the stems and within the folds of the blades of grass. They 

 hatch in eight or ten days, making their appearance in May. In a month the larva is 

 full grown. It is dull black lined with with white, yellow, and pink. It buries itfelf, 

 forms a cist, and then turns to a mahogany brown chrysalis. The moth appears in about 

 a fortnight. 



The Army-worm in its strength is indeed a formidable foe — " The land is as the 

 garden of Eden before it, but behind it a desolate wilderness." A correspondent of the 

 American Entomologist told of the creatures coming down upon his lands in a phalanx 

 half-a-mile wide. 



Happily for the farmer there are two powerful natural checks to the increase of 

 these troublesome pests ; and often when he is at his wit's end they are moat effective 

 in his service. One is a fungus which spreads from larva to larva and speedily paralyzes and 

 consumes them : the other is the Red-tailed Tachina fly, Nemorcea leucanice, Kirkpatrick, 

 which lays its eggs upon the living larva in parts where it cannot dislodge them. The 

 maggots that burst from the eggs destroy their victims by thousands. 



Grambid^e. 



A very elegant, but very mischievous group of moths are the Orambidse or " Grass 

 moths," of which we have many species. Their larvae form silken tunnels at the roots of 

 grasses and work unseen. Their retiring habits make it difficult to follow them in their 

 career ; and but little is known of the life histories of most of the species. Dr. Lintner 

 has given us a good account of C. vulgivagellus ; and other writers have afforded us 

 glimpses of a few of the rest. In the dearth of information the following particulars 

 concerning G. Girardellus may be of interest. 



Notes on Crambus Girardellus. 



Eggs. — Laid dispersedly, pale yellow, melon-shaped, ribbed and cross-lined; hatched 

 the first week in August. 



Young larva. — One-twentieth of an inch long; head and seeond segment dark 

 brown, rest of body amber coloured ; formed dirty silken tunnels at the roots of the grass; 

 moulted August 20th. 



Larva after first moult. — Length, one-sixth of an inch ; head and horny plate on 

 second segment dark brown, polished ; body pale amber beautifully spotted with sienna- 

 coloured warts, and sparingly set with bristles ; moulted September 1st. 



Larva after second moult. — Head of a dirty amber colour, marked with brown 

 patches; body amber-coloured, dotted with large brown tubercles. 



At this stage I lost my specimens — the frequent disturbances necessary to the 

 observation of their habits proving destructive to them. 



The following is a table of the Quebec specimens of this interesting group : 



Characteristics of the Group. 



Antennae filiform ; labial palpi long and beak-like, porrected ; wings in repose folded 

 round the body ; fore-wing usually oblong and, in most instances, bluntly terminated, 

 but sometimes, as in G. minimellus, with a produced tip. Hind-wings ample. 



Larva with sixteen legs ; head and thoracic shield usually black or brown ; body 

 whitish or straw-coloured, somewhat hairy, and sometimes having glassy tubercles. It 

 forms silken galleries at the roots of grasses. 



