Curculio is an ancient Roman word, not at all used to denote a plum insect. It is slightly difficult to pronounce, and it certainly fails to inform the popular mind as clearly as the suggestive oid Anglo-Saxon word, “weevil.”

Weevil, in its original and right use, designates only insects of the snout-beetle kinds, like the plum weevil, bean and pea weevils, corn or granary weevil, rice, pine, nut, water, and other weevils. Perhaps the only erroneous use of weevil made in this country was with the little yellow maggot of the wheat fly.

The proportion of the sexes in insects often throws much light upon the habits and appearance of the species. Having had good opportunity to make observations of this kind ttpon Cicindela vulgaris Say, in collecting a large number of the beetles, I have made out the appended table, which will explain itself. The dates I give, as they will show how the sexual proportion varies at different times of the season. From my observations it would seem that when the insects first appear in spring the females are much the more numerous; but that when they first appear in fall the males outnumber the females as two to one. I have taken this species here from 3rd March (1882) to 25th October (1884).

During the summer of 1882 a few of the ash trees on the college lawn became infested with a Saw-fly worm which for a few days threatened to be quite serious. I made a few trials of London purple on the trees most seriously infested, but before I had gained results from many trees or had completed a study of the larvæ, they suddenly disappeared. So far as my experiments went they showed the London Purple to be a successful remedy and as applicable to these worms as to any of the Saw-Fly group. No adults were observed, and none of the larvæ I had under my observation matured; so the matter necessarily came to a rest.

Chrysomela scalaris Lec. The question asked by Dr. Hagen in the June number concerning the name of this insect, is more easy to answer than to arrive at a definite conclusion. Stal, in his monograph, did not recognise many of the genera into which Chrysomela had been divided; among them were Doryphora and Leptinotarsa. Finding that Olivier in 1807 had described a D. scalaris, and the Maj. LeConte in 1824 a Chrys. scalaris, Stal superseded the latter name by multiguttis. Recent authors are in accord in adopting many of the genera rejected by Stal, and the name originally given our species becomes valid and has been adopted by Jacoby (Biol. Cent. Am., vi, pt. i., p. 197, pl. xi., fig. 6). That the name should remain in future Calligrapha scalaris is fortunate, since we have lately received from Arizona a specimen of Calligrapha multiguttata Stal (in cab. Lec.), which is well figured in the work above cited, pl. x., fig. 5.

The ultimate extinction of many species of Coleoptera in the vicinity of large cities is unquestionable, especially of the larger Carabidæ. The conditions of life with some are such as admit of no adaptation to the methods of civilization, and for them no refuge from the encroachments of agriculture will eventually remain. They are now retiring, retiring, and in time the last goal will be reached. In localities where the population is becoming dense, and all land available placed under cultivation, many fine species that once were common are now rarities and others fast becoming so. It is less than half a century since Mr. Randall described eighty four species from localities in Maine and Massachusetts, most of them common; but, according to Mr. Austin, in the same places several of these species are now extinct and many of them have become rare.

My collections in this extensive family contain over ninety species, of which several are yet undetermined. The great similarity of the species in some genera and the variation in form and color of individuals in other groups render their determination difficult.

Donacia pubescens Lec. This species is readily distinguished by the dense pubesence of thc upper surface, which in our other species is of metallic lustre. It was described from a specimen taken by Dr. Le Conte at Smoky Hill river, while on the W. Pac. Ry. survey between kansas and New Mexico in 1867, (Trans. Am. Ent. Soc. Vol. 11, pg. 55.) It has since been recorded from Michigan and Buffalo. Four or tive specimens taken by Mr. Fletcher in a small swamp near the city, in 1878.

It is generally acknowledged by Entomologists that the hairy larvæ, such as the Arctians and their allies, very commonly escape parasitic attack, a circumstance attributable to the fact, that in order to permit the deposit of ova, these caterpillars must be discovered by the parasites in favorable postures, or else worried by them into such, that the spines separating, give the only opportunity for the insertion of the ovipositor. This was clearly demonstrated in an attack made by an Ichneumon upon a larva of Apatela Americana Harris, which came under my observation in the early part of last autumn. This genus belongs to the family of the Noctuidæ, the larvæ of which, like the Arctians, are clothed with dense spinular hairs. The caterpillar had secured itself by its abdominal legs to the midrib of a maple leaf, having the fore part of its body elevated, similar to the attitude common to the larvæ of the Sphingidæ.

During the spring of the past year I was fortunate enough to procure eggs of the following species of Scopelosoma, and succeeded in rearing a sufficient number of each to ensure an accurate observation of their larval differences. The matter is of some interest, as it settles beyond question the specific difference between the two species known in collections as S. Walkeri and S. vinulenta, which have been enumerated as varieties of the mythical sidus in recent lists. That one of these species is really sidus I think there can be little doubt; but which should be referred to it is somewhat uncertain.

In the American classification of the Lepidoptera, the Bombycidæ occupy a place between the Zygænidæ and the Noctuidæ. They include a large number of genera and species, and are well represented on this continent. The principal characteristic of the family is that from which it derives its name of Bombycidæ,—or spinners,—the power the caterpillars have of producing a silken fibre, which they use in spinning a cocoon in which to pass the pupa stage of their existence. The Silk-worm moth, Bombyx mori, is the typical species of the family. Some genera, however, do not produce silk in any quantity. They are also remarkable as a family for the imperfectly developed mouth parts in the perfect insect. In nearly all of them the tongue is short, and in some species wanting, and the other parts of the mouth so imperfect that it is not probable the insects feed at all in the perfect state.