On May 20th, 1896, I received the following letter from a correspondent in Mount Vernon, N. H.: “I enclose you worms that are making sad havoc with the blueberry crop in this section. They seem to be great feeders, completely stripping the bushes of leaves and blossoms, but do not touch the green berries after they begin to form. The berry fields look as though a fire had passed over them, and the worms have nearly ruined the blueberry crop in this vicinity.

The following new genera and species of Proctotrypidæ were all collected in Canada by Mr. W. Hague Harrington, of Ottawa.

Scorrioteleia, gen. nov.

Abdomen with five visible segments; the last three segments long, slender, cylindrical, together as long as the second, and resembling the tenninal segments of a scorpion; the third segment is about as long as the fourth and fifth segments united, the fifth pointed. Front wings with the marginal vein shorter than the marginal cell, and scarcely twice as long as the first abscissa of radius, which is slightly oblique. Antennfæ 15-jointed, filiform, the first joint of flagellum the longest, about half the length of the scape, the following joints to the last very gradually shortening, the penultimate joint being about twice as long as thick, the last joint oblong-oval, one-half longer than the preceding.

The interesting new species of water-bug described below was received some time ago from Abbé P. A. Bégin, of Sherbrooke, Canada. It was captured swimming on a fresh-water stream some little distance above Sherbrooke, and is of more than ordinary interest, from the fact that it belongs to the genus Halobatopsis, Bianchi, a genus not yet recognized in the North American fauna, and only recently characterized, being based upon the South American Halobates platensis, Berg., also a fresh-water species.

The above species was described by me in the Proceedings of the U. S. National Museum, Vol. XIV., page 253, in my revision of the genus Mamestra. Recently Mr. Grote has questioned the distinctness of this species from olivacea. I could hardly credit this as being serious, and barely referred to the matter in the September, 1896, number, of the Canadian Entomologist, page 240. In the December number, page 301, Mr. Grote returns to this subject, and again suggests that circumcincta may be either olivacea or comis. He refers to the fact that the description resembles that of both the species cited by him, and brings in Mr. Beutenmüller to testify to the fact that my species closely resembles olivacea. Mr. Beutenmüller is not a specialist in the Noctuidæ, and not entitled to an opinion that would carry decisive weight. Furthermore, it was not fair to Mr. Beutenmüller to ask him to make the comparison without first referring him to my description. Mr. Grote speaks as if the statement that circumcincta, or its description rather — for he has never seen the species — resembles olivacea was an important one and a discovery of his own.

Monodontomerus stigma (Fabr.).

M. viridæneus, Prov., Canada.

Common in New England. In the District of Columbia I have reared it from the cell of Militoma euglossoides, var. taurea, Say.

The genus Oligosthenus cannot remain separated, the fine dentitions of hind femora king more or less indistinct.

A frequent variety has no cloud about stigma. The abdomen varies in the amount of purple.

The form alone of these little beetles is amply sufficient for their separation from the other tribes of Chrysomelidæ. They are more or less wedge-shaped, the elytra often broadly and squarely truncate behind and with rows of deep punctures, sometimes costate as well. Only two of the North America genera have been recorded from our territory, Microrhopala, with 8-jointed antennæ (owing to the fact that the last four joints are closely connate), and Odontota, in which the antennæ are 11-jointed. The middle tibiæ are straight in both of these genera.

In the Transactions of the American Entomological Society, XX., 147, after notes and descriptions of five species of Augochlora, I gave the following note: “All of the species of Augochlora mentioned above agree in having the hind spur serrate with numerous fine teeth, and form a distinct section of the genus. Another section, to which belong A. lucidula, Sm., A. sumptuosa, Sm., and A. humeralis, Pttn., is characteried by having this spur provided with four or five long teeth.”

Osmia prunorum, n. sp.

♀.—Length, 9 mm.; shining dark greenish-blue, densely punctured with pale ochreous pubescence. Head subquadrate, face and front so densely punctured as to be cancellate; pubescence thin except on occiput; clypeus punctured just like the front, with no central keel, the anterior margin broadly dark purple, the edge straight and entire, two converging brushes of orange hair projecting from beneath it. Mandibles with the two lower teeth long and pointed. Antennæ rather short, flagellum only feebly brownish beneath. Thorax very closely punctured, not very densely hairy; basal triangle of metathorax minutely granular, its extreme base minutely longitudinally plicate. Tegulæ black, shining, sparsely punctured. Wings hyaline, faintly dusky beyond the nervures, nervures black. Legs black, with pale brownish or grayish pubescence, rufescent on inner sides of basal joints of tarsi; hind femora quite broad at ends, basal joint of hind tarsi quite stout. Abdomen short, suboval, convex, shining, strongly but not very closely punctured, first joint covered with sparse long pale ochreous pubescence; remaining joints with a sericeous pile, only noticeable in certain lights, when it will take more or less the appearance of bands. Apex with snow-white hairs. Ventral scopa black in middle and yellowish-white at sides.

I have had occasion to refer three times in these pages to the genus Eupoeya, placing it, with some doubt, in the Megalopygidæ. Very recently I have been so fortunate as to discover the larva in Florida on the mangrove. It is a true Eucleid, contrary to my expectation, but in confirmation of Dr. Packard's original statements. This genus, then, removed from the Megalopygidæ, renders it possible to define the family by the branching of vein 1 of primaries, instead of by the pectinations of the antennæ to the tip, which proves to be a fallacious character.

A portion of my table of Mexican species, on p. 4, should be amended to read as follows:—

5. Hind margins of abdominal segments broadly black, blue-green or more or less purplish-tinted species.

Alar expanse 15 to 16 mm.

Head small, with long, rather bristly scales, of which it is easily denuded, the colours mingled dingy white and buff; labial palpi projecting, elongate triangular, densely scaled, of a buff colour, indistinctly margined with white; maxillary palpi not in evidence; tongue slender, naked, eyes globular, large, purplish brown; antennæ silvery white above, pale brown beneath, the joints distinct and clothed with very short pubescence. Thorax buff with white median line, patagia buff; bordered more or less distinctly with white. Abdomen clothed with buff or fulvous scales, with indistinct bands of white at base. Legs shading from pale brown femora to yellowish-white tarsi. Wings broad. Fore wings, ground dour of black, buff and white scales intermingled, ranging from dark to light in proportion to the number of white scales, which is variable; a narrow, rather indefinite, white streak extends longitudinally from the base of the wing near the inner margin to about the middle; a more distinct white area has its base on the costa in the apical third extending obliquely backward about half across the wing; a narrow white line curves around the outer margin, diverging quite widely from the latter near the apical and the outer angles, most distinct near the costa, where it very nearly touches the base of the costal fascia, to this succeeds a dark band and a second narrower white line followed by a fine black marginal line; fringes white, variegated with two dusky bands.