1266 General Notes. [December, 
the species are to receive different names,’ as the writer of the 
paper remarks, for by a strange slip of memory the volume is said 
to enumerate “ less than 400 monopetalous [sic] species from Ca- 
prifoliaceæ to Composite inclusive.” The Composite alone in- 
clude nearly four times that number ! 
ENTOMOLOGY, 
GREAT SWARMS OF A PSEUDO- NEUROPTEROUS INSECT IN JAPAN — 
On the 17th February of this year (1878), at about 7 o'clock AM, 
this curious kind of insect (in the bottle) was seen at Yuno- 
sawa, in the district of Kameda, near Hakodate port, flying in 
swarms of so great numbers that for the distance of about four or 
five chios (1440 to 1800 feet) it seemed quite dark. At this time 
they were very small and looked like gnats or mosquitos. But 
about one hour afterwards they seemed to grow as big as a small 
sort of fly, and each pair copulated together for several hours, 
and then they all fell down dead. 
This insect was also seen on the 29th December last year 
(1877). The residents of that place stated that they had never 
seen any before there, even in summer, and they considered it very 
strange that such insects were found there in the season of snow, 
especially during this severe winter. 
Yunosawa is situated in a small valley. A small stream runs 
through this valley, and at its bank there is a lime main 
besides only one farmer’s house, and a few rice fields, also a ʻ0 
species of Capnia.— Ed. | 5 he 
Tae LARVAL STAGES or Mamestra Picta.—lIn the pees 
September, 1876, the caterpillars of this moth did extensiv? 
jury to the ruta bagas on the farm of the Massachusetts 
AP Dit ie A 
tural College at Amherst; eight years previous they also si wing : 
beet. The fol 
the leaves of this vegetable as well as the ative study © 
pHs may be of service as data for a compar 
the early stages of the Noctuide: . the 
Larva jes the rst moult.—Length 4™™ Head mages © i 
body, pale-greenish; body pale-greenish with a ne 
dorsal stripe divided by a pale median line; three ʻā irs of ab- 
stripes, of which the uppermost is the narrower ; five pa 5 
dominal feet, first pair one-half the size of the fourth pair. 
well tuberculated, being smoother in the adult 
oe chain 
rva after the 1st moult,—Length 7™™ Markings ae band, 
the full-grown larva, deep yellow with a broad black dor 
