(1) Parasa prasina, Dyar, Psyche VIII., p. 273, 1898 (Central America), is preoccupied by Parasa prasina, Alph., Deut. ent. Zeit., 1895, p. 186 (Western China). The Central American species may be called Parasa wellesca.

This genus of Orthoptera is confined almost entirely to North America, where it is represented by twenty or more species. Joseph Redtenbocher in his “Monographie der Conocephaliden,” published in 1891, united Orchelimum, Serv., to Xiphidium, Serv. This action seems scarcely justified, as the two groups are quite as distinct as many other Orthopteran genera, and Redtenbocher's authority has not been generally recognized in this country. The species are distinguished with difficulty and the descriptions are widely scattered. These considerations have led me to attempt to make a key for their identification. It is quite possible that some of the species indicated are synonymous, but I am inclined to believe that all I have recognized are good, and I believe there are a considerable number undescribed. Many forms which differ from each other by very few structural differences are distinguished by some peculiarity of song or habit or habitat, and it is certain that a considerable number of them have been overlooked.

The larva of this not uncommon little Pyralid feeds on the seeds of the peppergrass. It has not been described heretofore; the name as given by Packard (American Naturalist, IV., 229) is an error of identification, the species which he represents, copied from Abbot's manuscript drawing, being Enœmia crassinervella, Zell., a Tineid. The true larva of E. pupula lives singly in the heads of the peppergrass in a loose open web, eating the unripe seeds out of the flat pods, forming two holes in each pod on the upper side. The larvæ, though fully exposed, are difficult to see, as their colours harmonize well with the general appearance of the flower heads. The delicate open web is not conspicuous.

In Entomological News, Vol. V., 1894, p. 210, Prof. Cockerell cited all of the Coccids known to infest ivy (Hedera). Since then other species have been found, and with his consent I have prepared the following notes for publication. Leaves of Hedera helix sent to Prof. Cockerell from Brazil, coll. Dr. F. Noach, May, 1898, proved to be infested by Chrysomphalus distyospermi, Morgan. And Mr. A. Hempel, of St. Paul's, Brazil, sent C. aonidum, L. Just recently he wrote me that C. dictyospermi, var. jamaicensis, Ckll. (minor, Berlese), was received by him from Lord Walsingham, infesting ivy at Cannes, France. Aspidiotus rapax (camelliœ) was found by E. E. Green on ivy in Ceylon (Coccidæ of Ceylon, p. 44. Dactylopius citri, Risso., was found at Kew Gardens, England, on a variety of ivy called Hedera amurensis (Newstead, Ent. Mo., May, 1897, p. 73).

Sir,—I am much interested in Mr. Slingerland's note on the new popular name for Clisiocampa disstria in the Canadian Entomologist for January. I once wrote an editorial for “Insect Life” on popular names (Vol. VII., pp. 363, 364), in which I gave utterance to a certain distaste for “book names” and to a preference for the popular name which grows up among the people. Such names are rarely specifically distinctive, but they are usually catchy, frequently phonetic, and more or less descriptive.

Deltocephalus apicatus, n. sp.—Head and pronotum yellow; scutellum and elytra reddish fuscons, the latter with hyaline apex. Length to tip of elytra, ♀ and ♂, 3 mm.

Vertex about as long as width between the eyes, margin rounded, apex prominent; front with sides nearly parallel to below the antennæ, then curving sharply to the base of the clypeus; clypeus slightly narrowed to tip. Pronotum, width more than twice the length, lateral margin short, posterior margin straight. Elytra passing the abdomen, with fully formed apical areoles (macropterous), or reaching only to tip of abdomen, with the apical areoles very much abbreviated.

Papilio asterias, Fabr. Var. semi-alba, ♂, nov. var.

On July 31st, 1899, I captured a very interesting form which is out of the ordinary run of the variation which prevails in this species. The size and markings are the same as the normal form, but all the maculations on the primaries are pure white, while the markings on the secondaries are of a deep golden yellow. The under side is the same, but not so conspicuous. Two males in my collection.

About the time that Lord Walsingham's valuable paper on Acrolophus and Anaphora appeared (Trans. Ent, Soc., Lond., 1887, 137–173), Mr. Beutenmüller was working on the same group; but neither author has since attempted to recognize the species named by the other, so far as I am aware. In Prof. Smith's List Lep. Bor. Amer., 1891, the group is recognized as a family—Anaphoridæ—but this can hardly stand. The genera will fall in the Tineidæ, in the more restricted sense (see Walsingham, Proc. Zool. Soc., London, 1897, 139–175).

Catocala moderna, n. sp.

Allied to C. viduata, Guenée, but very much smaller, and at once distinguished by the pale angulated band of the under surface of hind wings reflecting through on upper surface, where it appears as a faintly yellowish mesial shade, distinctly outlined. Fore wings like C. viduata, of the same pale gray, with the black oblique shading running from costa at centre of median space outwardly to below apices, less marked than in its ally. Subreniform paler, more yellowish. Else the lines and markings copy in miniature its ally. Fringe to secondaries white. Collar darker, with black line; thorax pale gray.

Meyrick's work on the Macrolepidoptera of the Hawaiian Islands is a revelation of our previous ignorance of that fauna, since he describes no less than 200 new species out of a total of 292.

Xylococcus quercus, n. sp. (Plate 7, figs. 1 and 2.)

Egg quite large, of a light orange colour.

Young larvœ dark orange-red, active, body broadly oval, abont ⅔ mm. long. Legs and antennæ light brown, well developed. Antennæ short, 6-jointed. Joint 1 stoutest, joint 6 longest, and joint 4 shortest. Formula: 651234. Joints 2 and 5 with three bristles. Joint 6 with numerous long stout bristles. Legs moderately long, with femur quite swollen. Tarsus longer than tibia. Digitules of tarsus fine hairs; those of claw long stout clubs curved upwards. Each segment of abdomen bears a backward directed short stout spine. On each side of anal tube is a long fine bristle. Anal tube large, with numerous stont spines. Stigmatal tubes well developed.

The letter from Dr. Behr, under the caption, “A Californian Tick,” in the August issue of the Canadian Entomologist, bears on a subject becoming fraught with interest to many investigators engaged in public service. It is with the object of stating my crude ideas on the matter, that of serious and exceptional effects sometimes following insect bites, and of relating my experience with man-attacking ticks, that I contribute this note. First, I think that a distinction should be drawn between the sting or bite of insects (I use both “bite” and “insects” broadly) that seek their prey for food only, as mosquitoes, ticks, and bugs, and those whose attack is primarily and purposely to inflict injury, as centipedes, spiders, and many hymenopterous insects. It is with the former class only that I now concern myself.

This West Indian Pyralid occurred to me on the cemetery grounds in Key West, Florida. The larva was destructive to a large bush (Thevetia neriifolia), commonly planted there for ornament. The larva webs up a group of the narrow leaves into a tube, and eats the parenchyma from within, thus destroying much foliage and rendering the plants unsightly.