16 



Toward the conclusion of his account Dr. Fitch says that " in at least three-fourths of 

 the fallen limbs no worm is to be found," it having been devoured by birds either at the 

 time the branch fell or afterward. The ground under oak and hickory trees here I have 

 known some years (1884) to be covered with the twigs early in September, blown down 

 by heavy winds, and at such times nearly all of the larva? are destroyed by insectivorous 

 birds, which extract them from their burrows, if they have not already been dislodged. 

 This explains why so few of the beetles were obtained from the twigs I had saved — only 

 18 beetles from a large supply of the twigs, every one of which had certainly fallen that 

 season, and been occupied at the time — the birds had destroyed all the others, and that 

 very soon after their fall ! But I cannot concur in the view taken by Dr. Fitch, that the 

 larva severs the branch that it may fall to the ground, thus to aid its transformation. It 

 is Yery probable that the larva cuts the twig to stop the flow of sap, the dead wood being 

 necessary to mature its growth, and is conscious of none of that "consummate skill and 

 seemingly super-terrestrial intelligence " which the worthy Doctor so enthusiastically 

 attributed to it. 



NOTES OF 1885 ON SOME INJUPJOUS AND OTHER COMMON INSECTS. 



BY JOHN G. JACK, CHATEAUGUAY, QUEBEC. 



Read before the Montreal Branch Entomological Society of Ontario, 9th February, 1886. 



The past season was remarkable, in our locality, for the general scarcity of diurnal 

 Lepidoptera, and also of many of the Coleoptera, especially among the Scarabeida?, 

 Cerambyeida? and Buprestida?. Many species of these, usually plentiful, seemed rare this 

 year, and even Lachnosterna fusca was not nearly so abundant or injurious as it is 

 generally. Perhaps, with the exception of Colias philodice, the most common butterfly 

 Avas D. archippus, which I have never seen so common. I do not think I saw a single 

 specimen of P. cardui, although it was very abundant last year. Pieris rapos was less 

 numerous and appears to be decreasing in numbers every year, largely owing, no doubt, to 

 the attacks of the pai'asite Pteromalus puparum. The birds also, especially the Fly- 

 catchers, do not get full credit for the good work they do. Insects of all other orders 

 seemed to be about as abundant as usual, and several species proved to be more than 

 usually numerous and destructive. 



The Buffalo Tree-hopper (Ceresa bubalus, Say) was again very abundant, doing very 

 much injury to apple and pear trees in young orchards. On July 5th I found some larch 

 trees [Larix Americana) with the foliage very much destroyed by saw-fly larvae, and on 

 examining the trees in the woods and surrounding country, I found that they were all 

 attacked. At this time most of the larvae seemed to be a little more than half grown, and 

 they continued to feed until about July 15th, when some of them made cocoons. Many 

 of the trees were now entirely defoliated, and the branches and twigs literally covered with 

 the larva?, many of which were dropping to the ground, and with the falling " frass " made 

 a sound like that of fast falling rain drops. Three days later (July 18) very few of the 

 larva? were to be found, most of them having formed cocoons among the old leaves and 

 debris, or in the loose surface soil at the base of the trees or in the vicinity. "When 

 collecting some of these cocoons on July 19th, I found that very large numbers had already 

 been collected and the larva? taken out by some small animals, probably mice and moles, as 

 there was a perfect network of small burrows under the old leaves and grase. The empty 

 cocoons were collected into little heaps, and a very large handful could often be gathered 

 at a single grasp. 



Having been kept in a moderately warm room, some of the imagines emerged from 

 the cocoons on December 22nd, and continued to do so almost daily until January 17th of 



