25 



of the bark many ovipositors which had belonged to unfortunate visitors of the previous 

 summer. 



Field Notes — 1881. 



The earth covered by its first mantle of snow reminds one that the collecting season 

 is virtually ended, and the lengthening evenings allure one to the study fireside to go 

 carefully over note books and collections and to read the recorded labours of fellow 

 Entomologists. fc Z 



A few ^memoranda from my own note book may perhaps not be barren of interest 

 to some of the less experienced readers of the Entomologist. I find that almost the first 

 insect of spring was the Mud-wasp, Polestes annulatus, which appeared with a few flies 

 and spiders about the 15th of March. This wasp is very abundant here, and from the 

 pulverized macadam of the streets thousands of its mud cells are constructed every 

 summer under the window-sills and numerous cornices of the Parliament Buildings, 

 about which the wasps linger until the end of October. Toward the end of March a few 

 bees and a number of small beetles, as Amara inter stitialis, appeared. Pieris rajjce, the 

 cabbage butterfly, wa3 observed on April the 1st, but from this date to the 8th of the 

 month a severe cold spell (thermometer touching zero) reduced insect appearances to 

 the minimum again. At its conclusion they emerged in still greater variety and number ; 

 Vanessa antiopa flitted about in sunny glades of the wood ; Cicindela purpurea enlivened 

 the fields, and its relatives, C. vulgaris and C. sex-guttata, the roads. Mosquitoes came 

 in full force a fortnight later, and on the 24th I obtained a number of Buprestidas upon 

 young pines, viz., 1 g and 2^0. virginiensis, and 14 $ and 13 £ G. liberta. I was some- 

 what surprised to find them so early in the year, yet could have taken many more. 

 They were generally paired, in several instances copulating. Some Pissodes were also 

 seen, and these were with few exceptions copulating. Great numbers of saw-flies were 

 also upon the pines. A few days later I captured specimens of A. striata, and by the 

 beginning of May all orders of insects were well represented. On the sixth Serica sericea 

 was abundant on the foliage of wild gooseberry bushes. Chrysomela elegans were also 

 unusually numerous, but I could not find upon what it fed. Platycerus quercus ? was 

 found eating the buds of maples and other trees. The buds were often completely eaten 

 out, and the beetles hidden from view therein. In some buds a male and female were 

 found copulating. This beetle was new to my collection, but I found them frequently 

 again during the summer when using a beating net. During May the curious larvas of 

 certain Larupyridas were often seen in damp woods, crawling on the trunks of trees, such 

 as cedar, or affixed by the tail to the bark, undergoing their metamorphoses in a similar 

 manner to the larvas of the Coccinellidas. Some reared at home emerged as Phoiinus 

 angulatus. The larvas, and to a less degree, the pupas, emitted a strong greenish glow 

 from two of the posterior segments ; the imago being, of course, one of our common " fire 

 flies." Some of the larvas were thickly covered beneath with small ticks, of a bright 

 vermilion colour, which had their pointed heads plunged between the armoured segments 

 of the larvas. They were not easily dislodged, but walked rapidly when free. By these 

 little parasites the larvas were so weakened as to perish before completing their transfor- 

 mations. The warm weather of mid-May brought forth increased hosts of insects, aud 

 the sultry air, especially in the neighbourhood of lumber yards, swarmed with Scoly- 

 tidas, etc. Toward the end of the month I took a trip, with three friends, to the Wake- 

 field Cave, about twenty miles north of the city ; and in my spare moments collected a 

 number of insects in that vicinity. Cicindelidas especially abounded on the sandy hill- 

 side roads, and I captured three species which are rare, or not found about here, viz., 

 C. 12 guttata, C.longilabris and C. Umbalis. On my way back I took a speciman of C. sex- 

 guttata having only two spots (the anterior one on each elytron). Although called Six- 

 spotted Tiger Beetles, very many have eight spots, and specimens with ten spots are 

 frequently taken. In a beech grove at Chelsea, Ithycerus curculionides was very abun- 

 dant ; several could be seen on nearly every tree ; many pairs were copulating. Where 

 do the larvas live ? On the 31st of May several specimens of C. Harrisii were taken on 

 pine saplings, and H. Pales and its long- snouted relatives were in full force. On June 

 4th, Saperda vestita, Oberea amabilis, B. nasicus, C. nenuphar, A. quadrigibbus, and many 



