Article beginning on page 148.
Psyche 5:148, 1888.

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148 PSYCHE. [January 1%.
sum against the light of the sky as a
above it.
background might aflbrd it a protection
Many such cases can be regarded more
from enemies below ; and the dark of clearly as protective since we now know the venter against the dark background that insects probably do not see form, of the earth, a protection from those
but color and movement.
DESCRIPTION OF EGGS AND LARVA OF APATELODES TORREFACTA.
BY CAROLINE G. SOULE, BROOKLINE, MASS.
A female found at Nonquitt, Mass.,
on 13 July 1888, laid a mass of pale
green eggs, circular, flat on both top
and bottom, translucent, and looking
like tiny gelatine lozenges, 1.5 mm. in
diameter. 20 July, the embryo could be
seen -with a lens. Five days later the
eggs had become opaque and of a sordid
yellowish white color. 26 July, the
voung larvae hatched, being a trifle less than 6 mm. long, covered with long
white hairs, and having a few dark ones
near the head and the anal shield.
The head, body, feet, and props were
pale yellow, without marks.
The hair was dense, long over the
anal end, shorter over the middle, and
still longer on first three segments. The body became green with food. The lar-
vae rested on both sides of the sassafras (Sassafras officlnale) and ash (Fraxi-
nus) leaves, and moved very fast. A
slight jar sufficed to make them fall from the leaf and drop by a silken thread.
When touched they curled up like the
arctians. They drank greedily, and ate
their cast skins.
Those Miss Ida M. Eliot had ate
beach-plum (Prunus maritimd) and
oak (onerous).
Some sent to Miss Emily M. Norton
ate wild-cherry (&nus).
2 Aug. The larvae molted, becoming
even whiter and "fluffier" than before,
with a dorsal line of black dashes, and
a dark pencil on the tenth segment. A
few had gray hairs over the head.
5 Aug.
They molted for the second
time ;-as before with the addition of a
gray pencil on the second and third seg- ments.
Feet and props were conspicuously
white.
10 Aug. Third molt. 25 mm. long,
body green ; feet and props white ; head sordid white ; hair very long and silky, and from each dorsal- dash sprung a short black pencil.
A lateral and subventral line of black
arrow-heads appeared.
One larva became bright yellow with
the pencils tan-colored with black tips, and one was of a soft gray with black
pencils.




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January 1889.1 PSYCHE. 149
15 Aug. Fourth molt.
The venter was black, and the props
were black with white tips. On first
and second segments, the arrow-heads
were replaced by vertical black dashes,
extending nearly to the dorsal line.
The yellow one came out with the
body black, the hair Maltese-gray, light- er over the head; pencils darker gray
with black tips. The gray one was like
it.
26 Aug. Adult larva, 51 mix. long,
densely covered with long silky hair-
varying in color from pure white to deep gray. Pencils almost black with black
tips. Head gray.
Body hardly to be seen but black
wherever visible. Props black with red
tips. Feet black.
27 Aug.
Three shed all their pencils
and long hair, emptied themselves, and
crawled rapidly about as if hunting for
good places to pupate. Rotten wood
and bark were provided, but no attention was paid to them, and no signs of spin-
ning were found.
30 Aug.
The pupae appeared, bright
apple green, with three abdominal rows
of gray dots, at first, but they soon be- came of a uniform mahogany color, very
shining and bright, about 19 mm. long.
Some were in close tins, and some in
a paste-board box, but those in tin pupa- ted first.
The larvae fed on sassafras grew faster
and larger than those fed on ash, and
molted and pupated earlier.
As the larvae grew older they chose
older leaves, in preference to young and tender ones, as food.
This I have noticed with all my larvae
this year.
ELECTRIC LIGHT CAPTURES.
BY JOHN HAMILTON, ALLEGHENY, PA.
The reputed rarity of an insect is fre-
quently owing to its ability to conceal
itself and a want of knowledge in the
collector regarding its habits, whereas
it may be really abundant. " This is
exemplified in the instances of Caloso-
ma scrutator and C. willcoxi. During
near twenty years of collecting here I
only took a single living specimen of
each ; Mr. Klages who has collected
near half that time - and carefully, was not more successful, nor were several
amateurs whose collections were seen.
Yet all this time there were thousands
of these insects about us as we now know. This year (1888) the evenings of 9, TO
and I I May were warm, temperature
60' to 65' F. During one hour of each
of these evenings I picked up from the
platform of an open pavilion in one of
our parks in the centre of the city,
to the corners of which powerful elec-
tric lights were suspended, ninety $
and thirty 8 Calosoma scrutator; one
hundred and ten $ and twenty-six $
C. willcoxi. Three weeks of low tem-




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