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Editor. — Wm, Saunders. 



Editing Committee. — Rev. C. J. S. Bethune, E. B. Reed, J. M. Denton. 

 Auditors. — Ohas. Chapman, A Puddicombe. 



After the routine business was concluded, Mr. Bethune offered some remarks on the 

 moth of the cotton worm, Aletia argillacea. Twelve years ago he found it extremely- 

 abundant, late in the season, on ripe plums. He had not taken the insect again until this 

 autumn, when they were found to be quite common in his garden. The opinion which 

 had been advanced by Prof. Riley, of Washington, that the examples of the moth taken 

 in these northern sections had flown northward from their breeding places in the south, he 

 did not concur in, but believed that the insect must feed on some malvaceous plant in our 

 midst, since the specimens he had captured were very perfect, and looked as if they had 

 just escaped from the chrysalis. He referred to the fact of this insect having been found 

 common in many of the Northern States, as well as in Canada. 



Mr. Reed stated that he had taken this insect also in London. 



Mr. Moffatt exhibited a number of interesting insects which had been captured by 

 him at Long Point and at Ridgeway, among others Papilio cresphontes, P. marcellus, P. 

 philenor, Darapsa versicolor and Junonia coenia. 



Mr. Denton reported the capture of J. ccjenia and Libythea Bachmani at Port Stanley; 

 also of Thy reus Abbotii at London. 



Mr. Moffatt stated that this beautiful sphinx, T. Abbotii, had been comparatively 

 common in Hamilton, and that a number of the larvae had been reared. 



Mr. Fletcher reported having captured two specimens of Erebus odora at Ottawa, one 

 of them so perfect that he thought it was impossible that it could have flown for any 

 distance, and thinks it must have bred in the neighbourhood. 



Mr. Saunders referred to several other instances of the capture of this rare moth in 

 Canada during the past few years. 



Mr. Fletcher referred to the fact that during the last year there were published a 

 number of papers on popular Entomology, and he hoped to see them continued, as he 

 believed they were doing good service in making our valuable monthly journal more popu- 

 lar. Several of the members present promised to prepare papers of this character during 

 the coming year. 



Mr. Young, of Hamilton, asked for information on the best manner of preserving 

 caterpillars, and inquired if any of the members had any experience in blowing them. 



Mr. Reed stated that he had tried and failed. Mr. Fletcher had the same experience 

 to relate, and had found that the only satisfactory method was to draw and colour them 

 from nature. 



Mr. Fletcher thought that most of our collections were deficient in specimens illus- 

 trating nature ; that while we had spread specimens, we should also have them as at rest, 

 and where possible, the larvse, chrysalids and eggs. 



Mr. Reed asked a question in reference to Anisota rubicunda, which he had found 

 common on maple about London, but very hard to rear; he wished to know the experience 

 of other collectors. Several of the members present stated that they also had found it 

 difficult to rear them. 



Mr. Young had reared a brood of them from butternut and beech, and found them to 

 prefer beech to any other food. Mr. Bethune had also found them on beech trees. 



Mr. Fletcher had found a small fly attacking beans this year; the larva had eaten the 

 stem of the bean and bored into the root, and finally produced a small fly somewhat 

 resembling a house fly. 



Mr. Saunders had found several years ago a very similar fly, probably the same species, 

 attacking the stems and roots of young cabbage plants. On comparing the fly with the 

 description given in Curtis' Farm Insects of the root-eating fly, Anthomyia radicum, often 

 so troublesome in Europe, he thought it probable that it was the same species. Mr. Saun- 

 ders also reported the capture of P. cresphontes very early in spring, finding the larva nearly 

 full grown in June, which became a chrysalis, and from which the perfect insect escaped 

 in abo uta fortnight. He had also taken the full grown larva late in the fall, which had 

 passed the winter in the chrysalis state, from which facts he drew the inference that this 

 species is double-brooded in Canada. 



