THYRIDOPTERYX EPHEMERŒFORMIS, Haworth

Extract

By the kindness of Mr. Donnelly, the very efficient head gardener of the Central Park, of this city, I am put in possession of sixty cocoons of the “Basket-worm.” They were taken from the terminal twigs of a sapling Sycamore Maple and Horse Chestnut growing on the low land in the immediate vicinity of the zoological garden. The cocoons hung in clusters on every twig, and as they had excited considerable curiosity, the gardener permitted them to remain until about the period of egg-hatching. I have supposed it might be of interest to the subscribers of the Canadian Entomologist to have the result of my examination of these cocoons. The of them had been occupied by the male, as attested by the puparium within. In about an equal number I found the broken shell-case of the female, all else having been devoured by parasites, some of which, in pupa condition, were found within the cocoons.