Of late years a few collectors have been sending material from various points in Western Canada, Manitoba and British Columbia. Mr. Dod at Calgary, Mr. Hanham at Winnipeg, and Mr. Heath at Cartwright, have collected many interesting species. Dr. Fletcher has sent me examples from other collectors in the same general region, so that we have now some little basis for a judgment as to the general character of the Noctuid fauna.

The summer of 1899 was a remarkable one at Rye in the abundance of Hydrœcia larvæ, as four species, never before noted in their larval state, and which do not seem to have their early histories described, were observed. Old acquaintances were to be found on every side, and some hitherto very uncommon ones were so abundant that a word in the matter of cause and effect may not be amiss. The seasonal conditions are, of course, contributive to such good results; still, the numbers in evidence every year suggest our looking a little further. Briefly, the environments are most propitious for the development of these borers, as that most important question, food supply, can be relied upon being adequate to all demands. The proximity to salt water insures a copious dew-fall, so that vegetation in the months of July and August does not suffer from the usual drought of this season in any such manner as it does farther inland. Here in late midsummer the larger Compositæ and other thick-stemmed plants are in full splendour, while fifty miles back from the coast all may be parched and leafless.

On page 365, Dr. Sharp states that the Hesperid larva “frequently forms a rudimentary cocoon.” It does not appear to be generally known that Doberes Mexicanus, Feld., a Hesperid (near Eantis) common to Central Mexico, makes a decidedly complicated cocoon. Constructed of tough gray silk, and very closely woven, the cocoou is formed between two leaves (or, rarely, two sides of one folded leaf) of the “zapote blanco” (Casimiroa sp.), and suspended from a twig by a strong silk thread 70 mm. to 90 mm. in length. The mouth is closed by an exceptionally well made chevauz-de-frise and turned at nearly right angles to the axis of the cocoon, which is 33 mm. in length, and at the middle, 13 mm. in breadth by 9 mm. in thickness.

About fifteen years ago I obtained from Dr. O. Staudinger a series of all the species placed under the Choreutidæ in his Catalogue of the Lepidoptera of the European Fauna (1871), and made a critical study of their structure to aid in the arrangement of our North American species. This study also led me to look up the nomenclature of these insects, and the results are given in this paper.

There has been a growing tendency for some time to use the generic names proposed by Hübner, and while at first I was not inclined to adopt the genera in his Tentamen, I now feel compelled to do so. It is not necessary to argue this question, since both sides were so ably presented years ago in this journal.

Pyrgota Chagnoni, n. sp.

♂.—Head reddish, vertex reticulated with brown, cheeks and occiput yellowish, antennal foveæ brown; antennæ yellow, thorax and scutellum red; numerous fine brown specks are so arranged as to form two obsolete dorsal lines and two spots on each side divided by the suture; this character is especially noticeable when looking from the head toward the scutellum, and gives the disc of the thorax a rugose appearance. Abdomen narrow, brownish, shining, posterior margins of the second, third, fourth and sides of the fifth segment more or less blackish. Halteres yellow. Legs variable in colour, with thick black hairs, especially on tibiæ, anterior and middle coxæ, basal half of all the femora and tibiæ, and all except the terminal joint of the tarsi yellow; posterior coxæ and the terminal portion of the femora reddish; outer half of all the tibiæ and the terminal joint of the tarsi blackish; the outer portion of the posterior tibiæ is intensely black, while the black of the anterior tibiæ is due largely to long thick hairs. The wings can best be described by reversing that of P. valida, Harris, given by Loew (Monog., Pt. III., p. 75).

The limits of the subgenus Atylotus as restricted by Osten–Sacken are not easy to determine. The presence or absence of the ocelligerous tubercle is the character which gives most trouble, for in some species it seems to be absent in the female and present in the male, and one could convince himself without a great amount of imagination that in some species it is present in one specimen and absent in another of the same sex. the type of the subgenus is bicolor, and associated with it are other equally peculiar species whose characters place them at once in Atylotus. They are small forms in which the usual banding of the eyes is lacking, as are also the frontal callosity and subcallous. The wings are glassy, transparent, resembling those of some other Tabanids when teneral.