16 



butterfly would alight on the curled leaves containing the aphides, and extending its 

 tongue, insert it among them, and when engage 1 drinking the sweets furnished by the 

 aphides, it could readily be taken with the hial. Liimnltis arthjmls and L. disippws 

 were observed and taken similarly occupied. At a meet nj; of tin Cambri Ige Eat. Club 

 (Jan 12th, 1883) I asked the members present if they ha I observed or known of such 

 habits in these butterflies before, and received a negative reply. Also notice that 

 Phyclodes tliaros and other small red butterflies sometimes persistently follow D. archippus 

 and other large butterflies of the same colour. They alight when the large butterfly does, 

 rising only when the larger insect takes to flight again. Is this for the sake of protec- 

 tion from some enemy 1 



The following note was made at the Experiment Grounds of the " Rural New-York- 

 er," River Edge, Berken Co., N. J. : 



"July 7, 1883. Found Pronuba yuccasella Riley in flowers of Yucca filamentosa. 

 They are quiet during the daytime, but become active in the evening. Have not found 

 them anywhere except in or upon flowers of this plant. Also observed a Hum bin-bee 

 succeed in entering two or three of the flowers, and clasping the stamens firmly with its 

 legs, it reached the base of them with its tongue and usually went two or three times 

 around. It had much difficulty in getting into the flowers. No other insects were ob- 

 served about them. Could this bee fertilize Yucca flowers? 



June 25, 1884. Found a young pear tree almost entirely defoliated by larvae of 

 Vanessa antic-pa. I have never heard of the peir as a food plant of this insect. 



Aug. 24. — I noticed an inchneumon fly (0 phi on) attempting to deposit eggs in or 

 upon a larva of Notodonta concinna. After finding the position of the caterpillar, the 

 Ophion brought its head pretty close to it, and then brought its abdomen and ovipositor 

 up under its thorax and between its legs, apparently using its mandibles as a sort of 

 guide or brace for the ovipositor. The Ophion was seen to probe the thoncic legs of the 

 caterpillar with its piercer, but for what purpose I could not make out. The caterpillar 

 was very much excited. For want of time I was oblig -d to give up further observation, 

 and killed the specimens. 



Aug. 2"), 1884. — The Buffalo tree hopper (Ceresa bubalus Fab.) is very abundant on 

 the branches and trunks of young apple and ppav trees, depositing eggs beneath the bark. 

 They are sometimes so numerous as to literally cover the limbs of the trees, and the 

 cutting up of the bark must do considerable injury. 



Sept. 22, 1884. — -Found a larva of S. drupiferarum which was infested by parasites, 

 which could be plainly seen just below the skin. An hour after it was taken, 1 looked 

 at it again, and found nearly all the parasites making holes in the skin, one of them 

 already having its body half through the hole just m ide. I put the larva in a paper bag 

 and did not lojk at ic again for two days, when I found it still living, hut weak, and with 

 circular marks on its back showing where the parasites had made their exit. In the bag 

 I found a bunch of small cocoons, set side by side, on end, like the cells in honeycomb, 

 all being firmly cemented together by a tough brownish substance. 



WHITE ANTS DESTROYING LIVING TREES AND CHANGING THE 

 FOLIAGE, IN CAMBRIDGE, MASS. 



BY H. A. HAGEX, CAMBRIDGE, MASS. 



Th-' common white ant, Termes jlavipes, destroys dead wood, stumps of trees and 

 timber, just as does its nearest relative, T. tucifugus, in Europe. Of the latter species 

 some cases are reported where living pines and oaks have been destroyed in the South of 

 France. For T. flavipes, only ow case is known, in which living grape vims in a hot 

 house in Salem were injured. (S. H. Scudder, Proc. Boston, N. hi. S., vol. 7, p. 287). Now 

 the earth in the hot houses here in Cambridge is greatly infested by white ants, but as far 

 as I know, no destruction of plants has been observed. I was very much interested by 



