18 



a beating of drums as the Queen of England holding high festival in Windsor 

 Castle never heard, for it seemed as if from every tree Cicada canicularis was 

 sounding its note. The tattoo of this insect increases in intensity for a while 

 and then breaks off with a few disjointed beats. Now and then a sudden whir-r-r 

 would be heard and the dark body of the bug would be seen shooting like a 

 bolt to fresh vantage ground, the transparent wings of the insect being invisible 

 against the blue sky. 



After luncheon the most interesting discovery that I made was that of a 

 species of Gelechia inhabiting galls on the white aster (Diplopappus umhellatus 

 Torrey and Gray). The galls were found well up the stems of the plant, from a 

 foot to two feet above the ground, and were smooth and onion-shaped. The 

 largest specimens were five-eighths of an inch across. On opening the galls I 

 found in several a brown chrysalis resting upon a web stretched across the 

 interior. At the bottom was some decomposed matter, and near the top a neat 

 round hole bitten through to the outer skin of the gall. In others of the galls T 

 found a number of white shining grubs, blunt at one end and tapering at the 

 other. Their length was about one line. I counted ten of these in one gall, 

 and they were evidently consuming the remains of their host. In some instauces 

 the grubs had spun up into light drab cocoons. 



In a few days I obtained from the galls four moths and two ichneumon flies. 

 The latter were black with orange legs. The following is the description of the 

 moths : 



Length of body four lines, expanse of wings eight to nine lines. 



Head white, eyes black, labial palpi recurved — first joint large and white, 

 lower half of second joint white, upper brown with a white tip, antennae filiform, 

 jight brown ringed with black. 



Thorax reddish chocolate in colour : fore-wings rich chocolate red with a 

 white divided fascia near the hind margin, under side grey ; hind- wings pale 

 silvery grey ; fringes grey with a faint brownish gloss. 



Abdomen golden yellow on the upper side of the three first segments, the 

 rest light brown. 



These moths differ considerably from those figured and described by Mr. 

 Kellicott in Vol. X. Gan. Ent, p. 201, and from those described by Mr. Kiley in 

 the First Missouri Report, p. 172. I would suggest for them the name of 

 Gelechia galloediplopappi. 



The life of the Gelechia in its early stages is an interesting and sugges- 

 tive one. The creature lives and toils in the narrow area of its prison-house, 

 knowing nothing of the higher life and the glorious field for which it is des- 

 tined, yet impelled by its instincts to make preparations for the change. 

 Dire foes it has ; and can it be that some violationof instinct, some erratic course on 

 the part of the larva lavs it open to the assaults of these ? We know not, but 

 possessed by these, it fails to attain to that nobler state of existence — which 

 things are an allegory, suggestive to us of joys for which we yearn and evils 

 which we fear. 



Here as elsewhere this season I could not but notice the abundance of hairy 

 caterpillars, Arctians of various kinds. A large proportion of these caterpillars 

 ^had been overtaken with a strange disease — a sort of mange — and many had 

 already succumbed to it. The warts upon the caterpillars had dried up, the 

 bristles had blanched and loosened, the intestines had disappeared, and the outer 

 frame of the insect had become spongy, the annules parted at a touch. The 

 unfortunate insects were the prey of a fungus which has been identified by Dr. i 



