Cambridge Entomological Club, 1874
PSYCHE

A Journal of Entomology

founded in 1874 by the Cambridge Entomological Club
Quick search

Print ISSN 0033-2615
January 2008: Psyche has a new publisher, Hindawi Publishing, and is accepting submissions

Article beginning on page 260.
Psyche 6:260, 1891.

Full text (searchable PDF)
Durable link: http://psyche.entclub.org/6/6-260.html


The following unprocessed text is extracted from the PDF file, and is likely to be both incomplete and full of errors. Please consult the PDF file for the complete article.

'260 PSYCHE.
ĺ [Apill 1892.
riously under their silken web on the
fresh terminal leaves of new shoots, I
supposed them to be Tortricid larvae,
and came near neglecting to rear them.
A large proportion of the new shoots
of the poplar (Po$ulus balsamifera)
in the valley were infested with these
larvae.
I have not seen any record of the
occurrence of this species in the United States, except that the name is given in Hy. Edwards's Catalogue of transforina-
tions of North American Lepidoptera
with three references to European
authors.
I have been enabled to deter-
mine these moths to belong to the Eu-
ropean species from some figures which
my sister, Mrs. S. Knopf, kindly made
for me at Paris, France.
I believe that there are five larval
stages, but I have not observed them in
sequence and I have not seen the egg.
Rgg. Not observed.
First la~val stage.
Head rounded, partly
retracted under joint 2, furnished with a few hairs; width 0.4 mm. Body apparently like that of the mature larva; a few hairs.
(Described from a dead discolored speci- men.)
Second stage.
Like the mature larva ex-
cept in size; pale yellowish green, smooth; hairs whitish, curling backward. Width of head 0.6 mm.
Third stage.
Only the cast head-case was
observed; width 0.9 mm.
Fourth stage. Width of cast head-case,
1.2 mm.
Fifth stage.
Head round, pale greenish,
not shiny; ocelli black, mouth white, jaws brown; a few hairs; width 1.8 mm. Body
cylindrical, folded between the segments, tapering slightly from the middle to the ex- tremities; feet normal.
Hairs few, fine and
long, whit.e, growing from the skin, there being no warts nor tubercles perceptible even with a glass, but the single hairs are ar- ranged in the same manner as the warts of the Arctiidae; row 4 is just below the stig- matal line and the hairs each a little back of a spiracle; 5 anteriorly and 6 posteriorly on the segments in the subventral space, and 7 consists of four small hairs on the venter of the legless segments. Body velvety yel- lowish green, subtranslucent, the dorsal ves- sel darker; a very faint yellowish stigmata1 line; feet tipped with brown; spiracles mi- nute, ocherous. The larvae live gregari- ously or, more rarely, singly under a silken web spun on the upper side of a tender leaf some distance above the surface. They will not eat the old hard leaves.
Cocoon. Composed entirely of white
opaque silk and spun between two leavesor in some other place that will furnish the nec- essary support for the first vertical threads a- gainst which the cocoon is built. It recalls in shape the cocoon of Nola trinofafa, but con- tains no bark and is larger and thicker. The base is flat, the sides nearly straight, and one end is pointed above, from which the top slightly tapers to the other end. The end be- low the point opens like a pair of vertical doors for the emergence of the moth.
Pct-pa. Cylindrical, thorax rounded, ab- domen only very slightly tapering, the last segments rounded ; cremaster none. Smooth, pale whitish with a brown tinge and a broad dark brown dorsal shade running the whole length.
Length, 10 mm. ; width, 3 mm.
Food ĺ´plants
Poplar (Populus) and wil-
low (Salix).
Larvae from Mariposa Co., California.
NOTE.-A study of California butterflies
Scudder in the Overland monthly for April and especially their comparison with those to claim that the highest type of human civ- of Eastern America and Europe leads S. H. ilization is to arise on the Pacific coast.



================================================================================

April 1892.1
PSYCHE.
SYNONYMY OF BUTTERFLY PARASITES.-
A critical study of the American Apanteles parasitic upon butterflies convinces me that there are but four species instead of the six- teen described by Prof. Riley in Mr. Scud- der's Butterflies of the eastern U. S. These are A. megathymi (ovipositor long, stigma white), A. ca~jatus (ovipositor long, stigma dark), A. cassianus (ovipositor concealed, two deep diverging grooves forming a tri- angle on disk of second segment), and A. glome~atus (ovipositor concealed. no triangle on disk of second segment).
A. Edwardst'i, emaryinafus (ensig-er Say) are synonyms of A. carpafus Say ; the others are synonyms of A. glomeratzis; A. theclae is a well marked variety of A. glomeratus Linn. Wm. Hamj+ton Patton.
ENTOMOLOGICAL NOTES. - It is stated in
Science that the friends of the late Henry Edwards have subscribed $IO,OOO and the
American Museum of Natural History
$5,000 for the purchase of his entomo-
logical collection, consisting- of more
than 3~0,000 specimens, and this scientific treasure goes to the American Museum.
This enterprise has been carried through by Mr. A. M. Palmer, and other theatrical
friends of Mr. Edwards.
More than half of the "Supplementary ap- pendix" Mr. Whymper has recently published to his travels amongst the Great Andes is given up to Coleoptera, and almost the
whole of it to insects with numerous excellent woodcuts engraved by Whymper himself.
The introduction by the late H. W. Bates gives a cot@ cfoeil of the whole collection mostly made over 9000 and even over 11000 feet above the sea, and shows that there is no trace of "any distinct element of a north temperate or south temperate coleopterous fauna on the Ecuadorian Andes . . . A few genera belonging to temperate latitudes, though not found in the tropical lowlands, do indeed occur, but they are forms of almost world-wide distribution in similar climates, and there is no representative of the numer- ous characteristic and common genera of the north or south. Even the northern genera more or less abundantly found on the Mexi- can highlands are absent." So, too, among the butterflies, "the genera Erebia, Chieno- bas, Parnassius, Argynnis, Epinephele, and many others, so highly characteristic of the faunas of the north temperate zone or Chili, or both, and of high vertical ranges, are quite absent." It seems to Bates a fair de- duction that "no distinct traces of a migra- tion during the lifetime of existing species from north to south, or vice versa, along the Andes, have as yet been discovered or are now likely to be discovered."
The March number of the Entomologists'
monthly magazine contains an interesting account by W. W. Smith of the formation of new colonies and nests by two species of New Zealand ants of the genus Tetramorium.
According to him they originate by the
union of several individuals of both sexes on sites beneath stones among the roots of
plants already instinctively selected and in- habited by Aphides and Coccids, which serve as an economic basis while founding their nests.
PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES.
CAMBRIDGE ENTOMOLOGICAL CLUB.
8 Jan., 1892.
The 167th regular meeting
and 16th annual meeting (since incorpora- tion) was held at 156 Brattle Street. Mr. J. H. Emerton was elected chairman.
The annual report of the retiring Secre- tary, Mr. R. Hayward, was read and ac-
cepted. Mr. S. Henshaw, the retiring Treas- urer, presented his annual report which was accepted subject to the approval of the audi- tors. The retiring librarian, Mr. S. H.
Scudder, presented a verbal report of the condition of the Club library which was ac- cepted.
The election of officers for 1892 being next in order the Club proceeded to ballot, and the following officers were declared elected :



================================================================================


Volume 6 table of contents