150 



caterpillar elsewhere, and not here till this year. It travels from one tree to another ; 

 some trees in the same field may escape for several years, but they will reach every 

 tree in time. 



Means applied for its Destruction. — Coal oil is promptly fatal to this pest. A few 

 drops poured onto some of these colonies is speedily fatal, especially if ignited. But 

 this is a very slow means of destruction and dangerous to the life of the tree. I will 

 try carbolic acid as less injurious to the tree. — [A. D. Binkard, Peru, Miami County, 

 Ind., July 23, 1889.] 



Reply. — * * * The insect is one of the rarer of the forest caterpillars, and it 

 consequently has been given no common name. Its scientific designation is Datana 

 angusii. The caterpillar has long been known to us, and has been reared to the imago. 

 It is a rather large, brown moth inconspicuously marked. The facts which you give 

 concerning its extraordinary abundance with you are very interesting, and unless* 

 you have objections we shall be glad to publish a note on the subject. From your 

 account these caterpillars will be very easy to kill by spraying with an arsenical 

 mixture.— [August 12, 1889.] 



STEPS TOWARDS A REVISION OF CHAMBERS' INDEX, WITH NOTES 

 AND DESCRIPTIONS OF NEW SPECIES. 



By Lord Walsingham. 



[Continued from page 120 of Vol. II. ] 



CEYPTOLECR1A Z. AXD ITS ALLIES. 



The following tabulation may enable students more easily to assort and recognize 

 the species belonging to the genera noticed in this paper. It must be taken to apply 

 especially to the North American forms as it is obvious that in dealing with a more 

 extended geographical series many other divisions and subdivisions would be re- 

 quired. 



A. Veins 7 and 8 of the fore-wings from a common stem ; 6 and 7 of the hind-wings 



separate and parallel. 



1. Veins 2 and 3 of the fore-wings adjacent at origin, = Cryptolechia Z. 



2. Veins 2 and 3 of the fore-wings remote at origin. =Machimia Clem. 



B. Veins 7 and 8 of the fore-wings separate ; 6 and 7 of the hind-wings from a common 



stem. 



1. Veins 2 and 3 of the fore-wings separate, =Stenoma Z., and Menesta Clem. 



2. Veins 2 and 3 of the fore- wings from a point or from a common stem ; 4 very 



close, —Ide Chamb. 



CRYPTOLECHIA Z. 



=Psilocorsis, Clem. 

 =Hagno, Chamb. 



Chambers (Bull. U. S. G. G. Surv., IV, 84) rightly places his genus Hagno (equivalent 

 to Psilocorsis, Clem.) in a section of the genus Cryptolechia. It is indeed similar in 

 neuration, palpi, and antennae to Cryptolechia straminella, a South African species de- 

 scribed by Zeller (Handl. Kong. Svensk. Ak., 1852, 107), as the type of the genus then 

 created. Zeller subsequently (Hor. Soc. Eut. Ross., XIII, 259) removed stramine lla to 

 Macliimia, adopting Clemens' genus for a large section of the then extended genus 

 Cryptolechia, but straminella differs from Macliimia tentoriferella Clem, in the proxim- 

 ity of veins 2 and 3 of the fore-wings, as in the case of Psilocorsis, which was distinctly 

 pointed out by Clemens (Proc. Ac. Nat. So., Phil., XII, 212). Thus if we retain the 

 name Cryptolechia for the original type straminella, and those species which corres- 



