196 General Notes. i | 
lowish, curved, continuous, 9-12 x 2». The perithecia have'thick 
walls, which are pale olivaceous at first, and at length black. On 
dead elm branches. Decorah, Iowa, Sept., 1882. E. W. Holway, 
No. 266.—F. B. Ellis, Newfield, N. F. a 
ENTOMOLOGY.! hie | 
MISTAKEN INSTINCT IN A ButrerFLy.—I believe I have anım p 
stance in illustration of your remark in the NaTuratist for July, | 
1882, that “the sense of sight, touch and taste play a more im | 
portant part in insect economy than the sense of smell.” p 
In June I observed that a plant of Artemisia ludovcand t 
our garden was covered with the hollow, spherical, leafy retreats 
of the larvæ of Pyrameis huntera: Never before having touit 
this caterpillar on any plant except Antennaria, I thought that 
the very different qualities of the new food might possibi aa 
ai 
duce some variation in the butterfly, and so transferred a doxa 
or more of the skeletonized coverts to the rearing cage. 
In so doing, I noticed that the larvae seemed very small in p 
portion to the quantity of foliage gnawed. In the cage, although ; 
constantly supplied with fresh food and light and air, they did not | 
thrive, and lingered along from day to day without any perceph 
growth. Nor did those left on the plant in the garden develop 
much more satisfactorily, and one after another disappeared long 
before attaining full size. Of those in confinement but two > 
ceeded in passing the third molt, and all died in about two We 
from lingering starvation, except a couple that I transferre 
Antennaria, which began at once to feed with avidity and 
completed their transformations. oe 
_ Asa rule, we can depend upon the botanical determination | 
insects. I have repeatedly had the species of a plant, about 
I was in doubt, decided for me by the peculiar gallor ™ 
which it bore, and which I knew to occur only on a certain ® 
cies. In this case, however, the instinct of the parent bu 
was evidently at fault. .. 
Antennaria being rather rare in this immediate locality aves 
was misled by the surface resemblance of the white, cottony ae 
of the Artemisia to those of the accustomed food-plant © ne 
by Professor C. V, RiLEy, Washington, D. 
books for notice, etc., should be sent. eea 
