v-H Entomological News AND PROCEEDINGS OK THE ENTOMOLOGICAL SECTION OF THE Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. VOLUME XVII, 1906. EDITOR : HENRY SKINNER, M. D. PHILIP P. CALVERT, Ph.D., Associate Editor. ADVISORY COMMITTEE : K/.RA. T. CRESSON HHNRY L. VIERECK J. A. G. RKHN PHILIP I.AURRNT WILLIAM J. FOX CHARLKS W. JOHNSON PHILADELPHIA: ENTOMOLOGICAL ROOMS OF THE ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES, LOGAN SQUARE. 1906. P. C. STOCKHAUSEN PRINTER 53-55 N. 7iH ST., PHILADELPHIA. INDEX TO VOL, XVII. (Notes and articles on geographical distribution arc ind.-\.-d und> r tin n Stales or countries concerned, and NOT undrr the spei-ies listed ti< of new or redescribed species. New jji-nerii- and speril'u- nann GENERAL SUBJECTS. Academy of Natural Sciences of Phila., Entom. Section of, 102, 182, 183. Alpine region of Mt. Wash- ington, Insects of 323 American Entomol. Society, 101, 103, 184, 185, 229. American Mosquito Extermi- nation Society, 15, 69. Announcement of changes in the NEWS 398 Antedating publications, 181, 224, 264. Association of Economic En- tomologists, 100, 399. Berlese's apparatus for col- lecting small Arthropods, 49, 182. Berlese's Gli Insetti 402 Blind beetles, 76, 105. British Columbia Entom. So- ciety 221 Brooklyn Entom. Society, 36, 141, 267. California Academy o f Science, Ruins of 187 Chiggers, Remedy for 399 Cotton Belt, Association of Official Entomologists of... 347 Earthquake and fire in Cali- fornia, 222, 261. Economic Entomology, Value of 140 Editorials, 29, 68, zoo, 140, 180, 221, 261, 308, 346, 398. Emergency case in insect arch- itecture X39 Entomological literature, 262, 263, 309, 400. i iitoinological Society of America, 352, 354. 1 .\planation of Terms used in Entomology, Smith's 309 Fcldman Collecting Social, 37, 70, io->. 185. iSf>, 265, :,n, 403- Field mice destroying insects. IQJ Floor maggot, Congo 64 Folsom's Entomology Formaldehyde as an insecti- cide 130 Faunal relations of west coast of North America ->_7 Geographical races 43 Griffon vulture, Biting louse from 62 Hasty publication, 32, 181, 2^4, 264. Hawaiian Entom. Society. . . . 225 Hybrid larvae of moths 390 Insect galls 34 Kansas University Collection 348 Letters to Editors, 15, 32, 69. Male moth largely colored like female . . 14 1 Malpighian tube within the heart, 113, 1/9- Medical entomology 180 Method of preparing wings for study, new -''S Mexico, Collecting in. Mimicry 103 MOMMUIO extermination Newark Entom. Society Newspaper ciitoin. 3ii, 397- Number of • • • 11 INDEX. Obituary : Hayward, R 230 Osten Sacken, C. R. . . 269, 273 Ohio University Lake Labora- tory 122 Pacific Coast Entom. Society, 104, 105, 226. Pennsylvania Board of Agric., Entomologists to 311 Pennsylvania Insects, Data wanted on 230 Pennsylvania Mountains, Col- lecting in, 263, 312. Personals : Bethune, C. J. S 220 Calvert, P. P 309, 399 Coquillett, D. W. . . 224, 264 Cotton, E. C 309 Dyar, H. G 115, 224, 264, 309 McCook, H. C 225 Mueschen, K 309 Poling, O. C 309 Rehn, J. A. G 322 Skinner, H 307 Slosson, Mrs. A. T 181 Smith, J. B 309 Snow, F. H 309 Van Duzee, E. P 112 Viereck, H. L 150 Willing, T. N 399 Plants : Asclepias, Pollen of borne by butterflies.. 268 Chestnut worms 311 Corn, Insect injury to 3", 36l Date palms, Strategus injuring 34 Gooseberries, Aphid at- tacking 59 Grain injured by chinch bug 361 Grain louse 327 Grape-foliage, Beetle in- juring 212 Huckleberries injured by Rhagolctis 37 Locust borers 404 Maples, Insect injury to 313, 317 Oats, Aphid on 290 Peach-foliage, Weevil injuring 210 Rosin-tubes, Insect from 403 Scarlet sage defoliated by Aleurodes 403 Scleroderma, Beetle lar- vae in 115 Popular ignorance of insects. 346 Preservation of related spe- cies, A factor in 146 Progression, Ways of i Pronunciation of entomologi- cal names 367 Protective coloring 403 Rock-boring mite 193 San Francisco entomological collections, etc., destroyed by fire 222, 261 Say, Remains of Thomas.... 248 Stanford University, Injury to 222 Temperature effects on mos- quitoes, Low 216 Trypanosomiasis, Fly dissem- inating 294 Types, To lessen chances of destruction of 261 Venation 117 Winter insects of Texas 154 ARACHNIDA. Leptns irritaiis 399 New Hampshire, A. of 326 New York, A. of 194 Ohio, A. of 399 Rock-boring mite 193 Scutovcrtex petrophagns* . . . . 194 Washington, A. of 350 INDEX. in COLEOPTERA. Aglyptimis* 240 Agrilns lucanus* 167 Allopogonia* 241 Araeopidiits* 241 Arizona, C. of 34, 141, 186, 309 Blapstinus spp 104 Bradycinetulus* 242 British Columbia, C. of 164 Cacniella* 242 Cacnocara oculata 114 California, C. of. .71, 104, 105, 106, 162, 164, 226, 228, 393, 394. Cantharis pilsbryi* 217 Clcindela, Habits of 338 tranquebari.ca 43 Cnemodinus* 242 Corthylus punctatissiinus 37 Dasytcs shastensis* 75 vicinus* 74 Delaware, C. of 115 Diabrotica, 12-punctata 213 Ephelimis* 241 Epicaerus imbricatus 212 Eschatoporis* 76 nunenmacheri*. . . 78 Eudesmiila* 241 Eitpsophulus* 242 Enrypodca fredericki 400 Enstroinula* 242 Fidia cana 212 Geographical races of Cicin- dela 43 Georgia, C. of 38, 165, 186 Gyrinus parcus 228 Helopeltina* 240, 349 Hematinum* 243 Hippodainla amcricana and sinuata 104 Lathrotropis caseyi* 71 Lcptura, Distribution of 227 Louisiana, C. of 165 Lower California. C. of. . .167, 168 Mastogenius impressipennis* . 167 Myrmecophilous C .......... New Hampshire, C. of ....... 324 New Jersey, C. of ......... 38, 267 New Mexico, C. of ....... 163, 329 North Carolina, C. of ..... 85, 186 Omileits epicaeroidcs ....... 210 Omits spp ................ 104, 185 Pachyscclus purpurcus ........ 404 Parahornia* ................ 349 Pclatines* .................. 240 Pennsylvania, C. of..i86, 266, 403, 404. Phoenicobiella* .............. 243 Platyccrtis opacus* .......... 393 Pleocoma hoppingi* ......... 394 Polycesta ................... 166 Preoccupied generic names in C ............ 240, 310, 349, 397 Quebec, C. of ............... 101 Rhypodillus* ............... 243 Stratcgus jidianus ........... 34 TeneLrionid. Blind ......... 76 Texas, C. of..io, 155, 210, 212, 217, 361. Trachykele nimbosa* ......... 164 opulcnta* ....... 162 spp ............. 160 Triglyphulus* ............... 243 Venezuela, C. of ............. 400 Washington, C. of ........ 106, 163 Wingless beetles ......... .210, ju Wollastoniella* ............. 243 DIPTERA. Anopheles ............... 280, 380 Aucheromyia httcola ........ 64 Biting Leptid at higli altitude 183 California, D. of... 107, i< 226, 371, 375. Calotarsa ............... ! hii ....................... 370 Clirysops ____ Coll- insignis* IV INDEX, Columbia, D. of District of . . . 244 Congo floor maggot 64 Corethrella appendiculata* — 343 Culex lativittatus* 109 spp.. 4, 36, 107, 109, 214, 279, 282, 369, 380. Cutcrebra cyanclla* 391 spp 392 Egg-laying of Culex... 4, 214, 215, 282, 369. Empididas, Genera of 370 Eye-maculation of Chrysops. 39 Glossina 300 palpalis zvellmani... 294 Illinois, D. of 48, 369 Jamaica, D. of 343 fanthinosoma musica 350 Limnophila aspidoptera 29 Minnesota, Washburn's D. of 400, 293 Mississippi mosquitoes 69 Mosquito survey of Pennsyl- vania 150 Mydas fulvifrons and chrysos- toma 347, 404 Nebraska, D. of 391 New Hampshire, D. of 37, 325 New Jersey, D. of 36, 37, 101, 266, 312, 347, 404. New Mexico, D. of . . : 29, 373 North Carolina, D. of.. 82, 83, 85 Parathalassins aldrlchi* 374 candidatus* . . . 375 Pelastoneurus nigrescens 69 Pennsylvania, D. of..i86, 214, 279, 350, 380, 404. Prorates* 372 claripennis* 373 Reduction of wings 371 Rhabdophaga rigidac 398 Rhagas mabelae 378 Rhicnoessa albttla 403 Song of mosquitoes 380 Staten Island, D. of 36 Syin/ allophthalmus 372 Tabanus subniger* 48 Tanypus dyari 244 Temperature, Effects of low on mosquitoes 216 Thinodromia* 370 inchoata* .... 370 Toreus* 376 Tse-tse fly 294 Washington, D. of 375 West Africa, D. of 294 HEMIPTERA. Aleyrodes 127, 403 Alydus sctosus* , 386 Anasa tristis 383 Aphis houghtonensis* 59 Aquatic H 54 Arilns cristatus 6 Arizona, H. of.. 384, 385, 387, 391 Blissus leucopterus 361 British Columbia, H. of . . .388, 389 California, H. of 385, 387 Chinch bug 361 Cicada fnhula* 322 spp 237, 321 Colorado, H. of 34 Columbia, H. of District of.. 322 Connecticut, H. of 127 Costa Rica, H. of 54 Diaspis pentagona, Parasites of 291 Eremocoris obscurus* 388 Feeding, Method of in H 382 Florida, H. of 322 Georgia, H. of 382 Germany, Aphid from 290 Illinois, H. of 368 Indiana, H. of 59, 322 falysus wickhami* 387 Japan, H. of 205, 335 Java, H. of 207 Leptoglossus phyllopus 382 Macrosiphum granarfa. . .290, 327 Maryland, H. of 6 Montana, H. of 387 INDEX. Narnia snozvi* 384 spp 384,385,386 wilsoni* 385 New Hampshire, H. of 326 New Jersey, H. of 239 New York, H. of 239, 390 Nipponaphis* 205 distychii* 205 Ohio, H. of 322 Pemphigus oestlundi* 34 Peritrechus tristis* 388 Pulvinaria innumerabilis 368 Quebec, H. of 239 Reduvius (Opsicoetus*) scni- lis* 390 Tenacity of Acanthia lectu- laria 350 Texas, H. of 155, 290, 327, 361 Togo* 335 " victor* 336 Trichosiphum* 206 anonae* 207 kuwanai* .... 209 Utah, H. of 387 Water-bugs, Progression in.. i Xcrocoris* 385 Xestocoris* 389 " nit ens* 390 HYMENOPTERA. Ablerus clisiocampeae 292 Ancistromma bruneri* 248 sericifrons*. . . . 247 Anoplius humilis* 304 Ant, New fossil 27 Ants, Tropical, in U. S 23, 265 Anusia xerophila* 61 Architecture of Vespa in emergency 139, 267 Argentina, H. of 58 Bombus nests 183 Caupolicana 57 albicollis* 57 Cerccris descria 397 China, H. of 121 Colletcs birkmanni* licsperins* lacustris* plcuralis* Colorado, H. of 28, Columbia, H. of District of 292, Compendia* bifasciata* Connecticut. H. of... 302, 313, Delaware, H. of Digger bees. Nests of 229, Eulophus guttiventris* Halictus szfcitki* Hive bees in city Illinois, H. of 7, 151, .• Kansas, H. of Metopius harbccki* Michigan, H. of Missouri, H. of Montana, H. of Nebraska, H. of 246, Xcw Hampshire, H. of New Jersey, H. of Odotitophyes fcrmgiitea* Ody items (Ancistrocerus) dcnii* 304, Parasitic H....7. 61, 04, 121, 151, 249, 2QT. .50-, Pennsylvania, H. nf Pcrisoptcrus puhhcUus . ...... Peru, H. of Poncra hendcrsnni* Priophonts accricanlis Prospalta bcrlcsci* murtfcldtii Ptcrontis arapahonum* Rhode Island, IT. of Tachysphcx- punctulatits* Texas, H. of ' Tiphia brunneicornis* .... " egregio* rchitim* mid en ii* 302, VI INDEX. LEPIDOPTERA. Alaska, L. of 379 Apantesis oithona 37 Apatela funeralis 69 Argynnis idalia 35, 141 Arizona, L. of.. 95, 96, 98, 99, 101, 1 88, 289, 349, 379. Attacus cecropla 368, 395 promcthca 396 Behr's types of L 261 California, L. of. .98, 105, 106, 183, 188, 226, 347, 349. Canada, L. of 379 Carystus richardi* 201 Catocalse in daylight 231 Catopsilia philca 104 Cerostoma 96 spp. nn* 97, 98 Chans suapurc* 199 Cocoons of hybrid larvae.. 395, 396 " Tclca polyphcmus 33, 112, 177, 225 Colorado, L. of 204 Connecticut, L. of 70 Cosmosoma rubrigutta* 96 Cymolomia 305 Dryocampa nibiciinda 396 Early and late L 70, 103 Eccopsis 305 Eccsla klagesii* 195 Erannls tiliaria 37 Eubaphe ostcnta 101 Enclca dolliana 392 Eupithccia hclcna* 191 Euproctis chrysorrhoea, Over- wintering European nests of 101 Etisclasia tysoni* 199 I'.ri'/n'ti comstockiana 403 Exartcma 305 Georgia, L. of 104 Harrisimemna trisignutd 21 Ifcliconins charitonius 34 Hcmilcuca biidleyi 395 Hesperidae, Dyar's review of 1 10, 142, 309 Hydriomena magnificata* 189 multipuiictata*. . 188 Hyperchiria io 141 Illinois, L. of 368 Ithomia hamlini* 196 Kansas, L. of 34 Lemonias larvae 140 Long Island, L. of 37 Loxotcrma* 305 Macaria quadrifasciata* 190 Mclamaca virgata* 188, 349 Mclamaca " 349 Melitaea chalcedon 105 Methonella carveri* 200 Missouri, L. of". 231 Monolcuca spadicis* 289, 392 Montana, Elrod's L. of.. 229, 263 New Hampshire, L. of 323 New York, L. of 21, 37, 69 North Carolina, L. of 84 Nymphidium quinoni* 201 Ohio, L. of 31, 70 Ophisma tropicalis 213 Pamphila bobae* 203 brooksii* 204 spp 70, 150, 185 Papilios, Rothschild and Jor- dan's Revision of the Amer- ican 400 Papilla rntiihts arcticus* 379 Pennsylvania, L. of.... 37, 70, 99, 103, 213, 229, 404. Phyllocnistis vitigenella 70 Pollen borne by L 208 Pyrgus centaurcac 99, 289 occidcntalis* 96 spp 277 Pseudorthosia variabilis vnr. pallidior* 204 Pythonidcs hoyti* 202 Rhescipha snowi* 95 Ruscino arida* 95 INDEX. vn Samia cecropia 368 cynthia 396 Secretion of Painphila incta- comct 150 Syntomeida befana* 379 Tachyris ilairc 310 Tclca Polyphemus cocoons. 33, 112, 177, 225. Texas, L. of 34, 95, 96 Thccla calanus and cdwardsii. 283 " cartcri* 197 hosmcri* 198 inadic* 197 Tischcria inalifoliclla 307 Vanessa j-album 310 Venezuela, L. of 195-204 West Virginia, L. of 310 NEUROPTERA. Allopcrla* 175 Arizona, N. of 337 Basiaeschna Janata 104 Bird louse, Gigantic 62 Brachynemnrns curriei* 93 CMoropcrla 174 Colorado, Odonata of 351 Copulation of Odonata. . .143, 148 Cryptotermes* 336 cavifrons* 337 Erythcmis 30 Erythrodiplax bcrenice and nacva 99 Florida, N. of 337 Complins brevis 104 Guatemala, Odonata of 182 Iowa, Odonata of 357 Isopcrla* 175 Laemobothorium gypsis* 63 Libcllnla Inctiiosa 3° Mesothcmts 30 Mexican and Central Ameri- can Odonata wanted 347 Nephepeltia phrync 182 New England, Odonata of. ... 31 Newfoundland, Odonata of... 133 New Hampshire, N. of New Jersey, Odonata of New Mexico, Odonata of.... Nomenclature of X. AIIKT. Odonata North Carolina, Odonata of. . 91. rititlicinls sitl'iirinitti Somatochlora spp Tcrmopsis laticcps* Texas, N. of Venation of N ORTHOPTERA. Agcncotctti.v 104 351 30 81, 351 337 i<«i arcnosits* 253 255 86 A mphibotettix* " longipcs* S; Anomalous position of Mal- pighian tul)c 113. I7'i Arizona. O. of Antolyca doylci* MJ Borneo, O. of 88 Brazil. O. of 332 Colombia, O. of 193 Conocephalus lyristcs and nc- brascensis 366 Costa Rica, O. of 204 Dictyophonts rcticitlatits 229 Eotctti.r hcbardi* 235 Georgia, O. of Illinois, O. of Length of life of O Lichciith-lints dccidns* " tnciniwmtits. . . . 204 Maryland, O. of scittidcri tc.wisis* Hnicoltir* O Ncinobiits fuiii-nilis* '5'i X<-\v Jersey, ' "" of North Carolina, O Pennsylvania, ' ' .... Platybothrus nlticoLi* Vlll INDEX. Platytettix* 88 " reticulatits* 88 Staginomantis spp 229 Stenodorsus* 9° e.rtcniiatus* QI Ta.viarchus paracnsis* 332 Tenodera sincnsis. . . .102, 311, 403 Texas, O. of 156 Trigonofcmora* 89 " fossitlatus* ... 89 Utah, O. of 284 AUTHORS. Aldrich, J. M 123, 269 Banks, N 174, 193, 33$ Bergroth, E 335, 350 Blaisdell, F. £..71, 106, 107, 228 Bridwell, J. C 94 Brimley, C. S 81, 91 Britton, W. E 127, 313 Brooks, F. E 310 Brues, C. T 61 Buchholz, 0 36 Bueno, J. R. de la T I, 54 Busck, A 305 Calvert, P. P. .31, 99, 148, 179, 263, 347 and Index. Caudell, A. N 192 Chagnon, G 101 Champion, G. C 182 Cockerell, T. D. A 27, 34, 204, 220, 240, 349, 397, 398. Cook, J. H 99 Coolidge, C. R 140, 263 Coquillett, D. W 48, 109, 224 Crawford, J. C 275 Daecke, E 39, 347 Davis, J. J 368 Davis, W. T 237 Dury, C 350, 399 Dyar, H. G 32, 69, 264 Fall, H. C 160, 393 Fenyes, A 310 Forbes, W. T. M 225 Girault, A. A 6, 305, 382 Grabham, M 343 Grossbeck, J. A 289, 392 Haimbach, F. .38, 70, 102, 186, 266, 267, 403, 404- Hancock, J. L 86, 253 Hart, C. A 154 Herrick, G. W 69 Holland, W. J 34 Houghton, C. 0 114 Howard, L. 0.49, 101, 121, 291,402 Johnson, C. W 273 Johnson, S. A 139 Jones, P. R 391 Joutel, L. H 237 Kellogg, V. T 62, 222 Knaus, W 329 Kuschel, R ' 112 Kunze, R. E 177 McClendon, J. F. . .26, 93, H7, 169 Melander, A. L 37° Mitchell, E. G 244 Miller, N 357 Moore, R. M 33$ Nason, W. A 7, *5i, 249 Newcomer, E. J 348 Osborn, H 321 Pearsall, R. F. 21 Pearson, A. W 70 Pergande, T 205 Pilate, G. R 31 Quayle, H. J 4 Rehn, J. A. G..i83, 204, 284, 332. 366. Rilev, W. A 113 Rowley, R. R 175, 231 Sanborn, C. E 290 Sanderson, E. D 210, 327, 361 Sherman, F., Jr 32 Skinner, H., 29, 33, 68, 95, 100, 101, 102, 103, 104, no, 140, 142, 150, 180, 181, 182, 184, 185, 186, 213, 221, 229, 261, 277, 278, 283, 346, 350. 370, 308. 401. Slingerland, M. V 130 Slosson, A. T 323 INDEX. IX Smith, H. S 57, 246 Smith, J. B 69 Soule, C. G 33, 395 Summers, H. E 100 Surface, H. A 230 Swenk, M. H 257 Swett, L. W 349 Taylor, G. W 188 Tower, W. V 218 Troop, J 59 Tucker, E. S 10 Van Duzee, E. P 384 Van Dyke, E. C Viereck, II. 1 30 j, Weber, S. V. JT.}, . Weeks, A. C 37, MJ Weeks, A. G i'(5 Weeks, IF. C 21 \\Yllinan, F. C Wheeler. W. M _>3, '«i. 265 Wickham, If. F J3 Williams »n. I-'.. I!., 133. 143, I 213, 248. 351. Wright, W. G 187, 2->5 JANUARY, 1906. ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS Vol. XVII. No. 1. Limnophila aspidoptera Coquillett. EDITOR : HENRY SKINNER, M. I). PHILIP P. CALVERT, Ph.D., Associate Editor EEKA T. CRKSSON. PHILIP LAURENT. ADVISORY COMMITTEE: HENRY L. VIERKCK. ). A. G. REHN. WILLIAM J. FOX. CHARLES W. JOHNSON PHILADELPHIA: ENTOMOLOGICAL ROOMS OF THE ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES, LOGAN SQUARE. Entered at the Philadelphia Post-Office a* Second -(law Matter ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS Published monthly, excepting July and August, in charge of the Entomological Section of the Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, and the American Entomological Society. ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION, $1.OO IN ADVANCE. Outside of the United States and Canada, $1.20. Advertising Rates: 30 cents per square inch, single insertion ; a liberal discount on longer insertions. No advertisement taken for less than 60 cents— Cash in advance. All remittances should be addressed to ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS, Academy of Natural Sciences, 19th and Race Streets, Philadelphia, Pa. EXOTIC LEPIDOPTERA. ERNEST SWINHOE, 6, Gunterstone Road. West Kensington, London, W Cat. No. 15 for 1906 free. The only dealers' list giving authors' names throughout, roo named speci- mens, i qual : ex Assam, 40 different species in papers, including Papilio boo- tes, gyas, etc., mailed free on receipt of Post Office Order $4.00 Explanatory Catalogue, with over 300 descriptions and many interesting notes 12 cents PARCELS SENT ON APPROVAL FOR SELECTION. FOR SALE CHEAP for cash — collection of Coleoptera, Diptera, Hymenoptera and Hemiptera. 5000 species, 25,000 specimens contained in 250 Schmitt and other boxes. All in first-class condition. Determinations by best Amer. and Europ. specialists WM. A. NASON, ALGONQUIN, ILLINOIS. NEW PUBLICATIONS COLEOPTERA Revision of the Ptinidae of Boreal America, by H. C. Fall. 200 pp., i pi (Trans., 1905) $2.O<» HYMENORTERA Notes on Some Bees in the British Museum, by T. D. A. Cockerell. 56 pp. (Trans., 1905) 5O Synopsis of Euceridze, Emphoridae and Anthophoridas. by Charles Rob- ertson. 8pp. (Trans, 1905) 1O Descriptions of new species of Neotropical Hymenoptera ; Descriptions of four new species of Odynerus from Mexico, by P. Cameron 19 pp. (Trans., 1905) . 2O ARTERA A Revision of the Mouth-parts of the Corrodentia and the Mallophaga, . E. Snodgrass. 11 pp., i pi. (Trans. 1905) .10 MAILED ON RECEIPT OF PRICE E. T. CRESSON, Treasurer, P. O. Box 248. Philadelphia, a. When Writing Pl.-;is.< Mention " Entomological New«." ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS AND PROCEEDINGS OF THE ENTOMOLOGICAL SECTION ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES, PHILADELPHIA. VOL. XVII. JANUARY, 1906. No. i. CONTENTS: De la Torre Bueno — Ways of Progression in Waterbugs i Quayle— Notes on the Egg-laying habits of Culex curriei Coq 4 Girault — Standards of the number of eggs laid by insects — IV 6 Nason — Parasitic Hymenoptera of Algon- quin, Illinois — III 7 Tucker — Determinations of some Texas Coleoptera with Records 10 Weeks — Letter to the Editors . . 15 Pearsall— Harrisimemna Insi^nata Walk. 21 Wheeler — On certain tropical ants intm duced into the United States 13 McClendon— Notes on collecting in M. \ ico 26 ("ockerell— A new lossil ant 27 Editorial 29 Notes and News 30 Poings of Societies ^5 Ways of Progression in Waterbugs. BY J. R. DE LA TORRE BUENO. In ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS for December, 1904 (p. 344), Mr. G. W. Kirkaldy has a suggestive note on the subject of oaring in waterbugs, in which he refers to Professor Packard's remarks in " Half Hours with Insects," on the motion of the legs in swimming in Ranatra and Belostoma and (Ainor^ins I. In February, 1905 (p. 53), the NEWS published a brief note of mine on Cori.va, Notoneda and Belostoma, and in March (p. 88), Mr. C. S. Brimley, of Raleigh, threw further light on the method in Benacus griseus. These brief notes suggested U> me that since I would have living waterbugs in my aquaria through the spring and summer, it might be well to look into the subject a little more thoroughly, the more so that all the general works I have been able to consult content themselve> with vague remarks. In connection with my breeding experi- ments, the following observations were made : The position back down assumed in swimming by our Amer- ican genera-^of the family Notonedida; is too well known to call for more extended mention. In Notmn- ditlata, variabilis and insiilata) and in ttm->t^i (An .v('/>\, pur- 2 ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. [Jan., '06 tim), the third pair of pedes only are natatorial and the tibiae and tarsi are heavily fringed with long hairs. The legs are moved simultaneously and quite rapidly in powerful backward strokes, the fringing ciliae expanding on the propulsive and closing on the return stroke. Plea agrees with the larger Notonectids in the position and method, but the stroke is quicker and more clipping and the tibiae and tarsi are very sparingly provided with short hairs. On land, both Notonecta and Buenoa move very awkwardly. When first put on any surface they jump about and move the third pair of legs des- perately with the swimming motion, but as soon as they get their bearings, they begin to crawl rather slowly and painfully by means of the first and second pairs of pedes. Plea, on the other hand, can very frequently be seen creeping among the water plants in which it hides, and at other times it moves along the surface film, actually walking suspended from it, back down of course. On land it walks, using all three pairs of pedes. Cori.ra swims using both the pedes of the third pair simul- taneously, as in Notonecta, and the position in the water is back up. On land, it jumps and skips about, the first and third pairs of legs being quite specialized and only the second ambulatorial, which naturally prevents the bug from walking. In the BelostomatidfE I have been unable to make fresh ob- servations on Benacus and Amorgius (=Belostoma, olim), but having had a number of Belostoma {Zaitha} fluminea in my aquaria at various times, I have been able to study this last species with care and to repeat my observations several times. Benacus I have never seen in the water. Of Amorgius obscurum Dufour I have had several nymphs which were brought to maturity. My recollection is that the}- move the hind legs together in swimming, confirming Mr. Brimley's observation on Benacus. On land they scuffle along pretty rapidly. With regard to Belostoma fluminea Say to confirm previous observa- tions, I confined a bred specimen in a glass dish so small that while it could move its legs freely, it was not able to stir from under my magnifier, no matter how furiously it might paddle. It was then stirred up, and its motions could be observed Jan., '06] ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. without much difficulty. The second and third pair of pedes are moved alternately and quite rapidly, the second pair row- ing while the third recovers, and the second recovering while the third gives a vigorous stroke. The femora cross each other when the second pair gives the propulsive stroke and are widely separated when it reaches the extreme of the return, the third pair being at the end of the backward move- ment. The stroke of the second pair of legs in all likelihood merely helps to conserve the momentum imparted by the powerful third pair, which does all the work. The second pair is but feebly set with hairs while the third is provided with abundant fringes along the edges of the tibae and tarsi. As in other waterbugs, these hair-fringes fold back in the re- turn and expand on the propulsive stroke. Belostoma gen- erally swims back up, but at times it moves abdomen up. On land it runs with considerable celerity and ease, employing the two posterior pairs of legs. Pelocoris I have not succeeded in observing closely. This bug moves its legs so rapidly that they can scarcely be fol- lowed. However, the third pair is mainly used in swimming, and the legs are moved together. It runs quite briskly on laud and in the water, its natural home, it creeps among the water plants. The only Nepid I have had the opportunity to observe is Ranatra quadridentata Stal., of which I keep a few living ones every summer. I have watched this bug swim repeatedly, and as its motions are quite slow, it has been possible to ana- lyze them much more easily than those of the others. As I have elsewhere noted, Ranatra employs in locomotion only the second and third pair of legs, the first being strictly rap- torial and prehensile. Further, since Ranatra is not one of the swimming waterbugs (in fact its affinities are with land forms as pointed out by Schioclte), * its locomotion under water is rather awkward, to say the least. The pedes move alternately back and forward, the second pair alternating with the third, much as in Belostoma, but in a much more leisurely manner. Again, as in ]>cl^stonia, at one extreme of the 'Ann. Nat. Misi. (4) vi., liSyu, p. ^2=,. <-'U . 4 ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. [Jan., '06 strokes, the extremities of the legs are widely separated, and at the other, the femora are crossed, those of the second pair crossing below the third. On land, however, Ranatra runs quite rapidly, but the ungainly length of its legs seems to trip it up when in a hurry. The meagerness of information regarding these habits has led me to the studies outlined above. It is to be hoped that the rising generation of entomologists may give a little less time to hair-splitting classifications and devote its energies to investigations of habits and life-histories of other than eco- nomically important groups, or than those which, like butter- flies, are largely aesthetic ; and to such lovers of the insect-folk do I look for further light on these highly interesting but financially unremunerative subjects. Notes on the Egg-laying Habits of Culex curriei Coq. BY H. J. QUAYLE, Ames, Iowa. During the past summer the writer was engaged in mosquito control work along the portion of the San Francisco bay shore extending from San Mateo to South San Francisco. The ter- ritory contiguous to the marsh here has long been noted for its abundant supply of mosquitoes, and the species giving the bulk of the trouble was Culex curriei Coq. Early in the campaign, my attention was directed to the fact that larvae were appearing exclusively in pools that were reached only by the monthly high tides, and which were dry for a portion of each month. This led me to infer that, like the salt marsh species in New Jersey, this species chose the mud of the drying pools rather than water in which to lay its eggs. Consequently mud was taken from such pools and submerged with ordinary sea water when, in the course of two or three days, wrigglers invariably appeared. Another method of studying this egg-laying habit consisted in sinking ordinary soap boxes, with the bottoms first removed, to a depth of two or three inches in the mud of pools, where larvae were likely to appear. These boxes were thoroughly screened at the top to prevent the entrance of adults, and were kept Jan., '06] ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. from floating away with the tides by means of stakes driven into the ground. When the monthly high tide reached the pool, water covered the mud within the box by seepage from below, the top being above high tide water, and in due time wrigglers would appear inside the box as abundantly as in the pool outside. These experiments, and the fact that through- out the season larvae appeared in such situations only, con- vinced me that Culex curriei lays its eggs in mud by preference, if not exclusively. I have negative evidence to the effect that this species win- ters in the egg state, but space here wnll not permit of an account of this. During the past year (1905) the eggs first began to hatch in February, the first larvae appearing on the 2oth. Despite the fact that no adults were seen after April, due to the effective control work, larvae appeared in these tem- porary pools in increasing numbers with each high tide until June. There is but one explanation for this, and this is, that the eggs do not all hatch with the early spring tides, the ma- jority of larvae not appearing until the higher temperatures of May and June. During the season of 1904, a brood of curriei appeared each month as regularly as the tides from February to September inclusive, making eight in the season. In arid climates like that of California, where the rains cease in the early spring, the, pools along the margin of the marsh depend for their formation entirely upon high tide water, consequently in the control work of the past summer it was only necessary to visit the marshes once each month, during the week of full moon, to find all the wrigglers that would appear for that month. This species was also found to be migratory, and in 1904 was found in the hills toward the ocean, ten miles from its breed- ing ground, along the bay shore. It is hardly necessary to add that this species is a strictly salt marsh form in this sec- tion, and is the most abundant and annoying mosquito of the Bay region of California. How doth the busy little bee Improve each shining minute? By flying 'round the can to see The good things that are in it. ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. [Jan., 'c6 Standards of the Number of Eggs Laid by Insects — IV. Being averages obtained by actual count of the combined eggs from twenty (20) depositions or masses. BY A. ARSENE GIRATJLT. 5. ARILUS CRISTATUS Linnaeus. No. Date, 1903 No. counted per mass Successive totals Av. per egg mass Max. Min. Range I Mar. 20 1 60 1 60 1 60 172 2 136 296 148 3 136 432 144 4 138 570 142.5 5 114 684 136.8 6 118 802 133.6 7 90 892 127.4 8 167 !059 132.3 9 159 1218 135-3 10 126 1344 134-4 ii 125 1469 133-5 12 133 1602 133-5 13 119 1721 132.3 14 '53 1874 133-7 15 105 1979 132 16 151 2130 133 17 in 2241 132 18 42 2283 126 42 19 172 2455 129.2 172 20 112 2567 128 42 20 2567 128 172 42 130 Finals The egg-masses were collected at Annapolis, Md., in a small peach orchard, where they have been unusually abundant for the past three or four years. In other orchards, in the imme- diate vicinity, none could be found, nor on trees other than fruit trees, except rarely. The insect apparently shows quite a preference for peach, as a place of deposit for eggs, and it seems to have a tendency to exist in isolated colonies. Most of the estimates of the number of eggs deposited by this insect fall below the average obtained. * For the first three of this series see ENT. NEWS, 1901, p. 305; 1904, pp. 2-3, and 1905, p. 167. M. WITTE says the peace of Portsmouth was signed in order to get rid of the mosquitoes. Jan., '06] ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. Parasitic Hymenoptera of Algonquin, Illinois. — III*. BY WM. A. NASON, M.D. PROCTOTRYPID^:. Pristocera armifera Say. 4 specimens <3\ July 17, 28, 1895. Aug. 26, 1894. Sept. 10, 1896. Lfflius trogoderinatis Ashm. i specimen 9 . May 30, 1895. Perisemus mellipes Ashm. i specimen ^ . June 4, 1894. Goniozus cellularis Say. i specimen 9 . Aug. 12, 1895. Goniozus columbianus Ashm. i specimen 9 . June 2, 1895. Goniozus plafynofce Ashm. i specimen 9 • May ii, 1895. Chelogynus canadensis Ashm. i specimen 9- June 28, 1894. Aphelopus albopictus Ashm. i specimen ^. July 16, 1895. Lygocerus fioridanus Ashm. i specimen 9 . May 25, 1894. Megaspilus popenoei Ashm. i specimen 9- Oct. 2, 1895. Ceraphron flaviscapus Ashm. i specimen 9 • May 21, 1896 Ceraphron pedalis Ashm. i specimen 9 - May 21, 1896. Ceraphron punctatus Ashm. i specimen 9 • July 18, 1895. Ceraphron algonquinus Ash. n. sp. 17 specimens 9 . May 23 to Sept. 19, 1895. Co-types, types in Ashm. coll. Ceraphron salicicola Ashm. 3 specimens 9- April 28, 29, 1896. Phanurus flavipes Ashm. 2 specimens 9- May 12, 21, 1896, Teleno mus pusi/lus Ashm. 1 specimen, 9 • May 10, 1896. Telenomus persimilis Ashm. 3 specimens 9 • May 10, 20, 1896. Telenomus podisi Ashm. 5 specimens 9 • Oct. 3, 6, 1895. May 29, 1896. Trissolcus euschisti Ashm. 2 specimens 9 • Sept. 27, 1895. Oct. 6, 1895. Trissolcus podisi Ashm. i specimen $. May 2t, 1896. Ocoloides howardii Ashm. 1 specimen 9- Sept. 17, 1895. Anteris virginiensis Ashm. 2 specimens 9- June 8, 21, 1895. Amblyaspis californicus Ashm. i specimen 9 • Sept. 27, 1895. Polymecus picipes Ashm. i specimen 9 • May 10, 1895. Sactogaster anomaliventi is Ashm. i specimen 9- May 27, 1896. * Determinations were all made hv Dr. Win. II. Ashmoml ol . D. C 8 ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. [Jan., '06 Caloteleia marlattii Ashm. 8 specimens (J, 9 • Sept. 21, 1893. Sept. 10, 1895. May 21 to June 5, 1896. Polygnotus salicicola Ashm. 4 specimens £?, 9- May 20, 21, 26, 1896. Proctotrypes rufigaster Prov. 4 specimens • — Harrisimemna trisignata Walk. BY RICHARD F. PEARSALL. In the October number of ENT. NEWS a brief note by Mr. Franklin Sherman, Jr., upon the pupation of the species, closes with these queries, viz :— r. If this habit (as given in his text) has been noted before. 2. What the normal pupating habit of the species is. 3. Whether such habit is known in any other Lepidopter- ous insect. On July 8, 1897, in the Catskill Mountains I took two of these larvae feeding upon the leaves of the Bush Honey-suckle (Diervilla trijida). They were nearly full grown and when captured were greatly disturbed, holding with the hind legs to the twigs and elevating the body, at the same time shaking in a tremulous fashion, as if seized with a chill, quite geome- 22 ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. [Jan., 'c6 triform in appearance. Not knowing their habits I placed a quantity of trash in the glass jars and one of them commenced gnawing at the small pieces of wood. Seeing this I supplied a larger piece of dead limb, perhaps an inch in diameter, into which my larva made its burrow, sealing it up, exactly as described by Mr. Sherman. The moth came out the following year. This then may be accepted as its normal habit. Now as to the third query ; and here I record one of the greatest disappointments I ever experienced in the rearing of larvae. In the same year while examining a group of Choke Cherry (Cerasis virginiana), second year's growth, I saw on the top of a leaf what I first took to be a mass of bird droppings, but on closer observation it turned out to be a shining, slimy-looking, gray and white larva, about half an inch long coiled up at rest. I put it in a glass jar with food plant and at first it fed only at night. As it grew larger it fed freely during the day, and at its final moult, changed to the most beautiful larva I have seen. It was then about one and one-quarter inches long, of a deep prussian blue, its skin smooth, like silk, marked on the dorsum from the third to the ninth segment, with a series of large oval cream yellow spots, placed crosswise like saddles, one on each segment. From each end of these projected at an angle of forty- five degrees, a narrow spatula-shaped ribbon like appendage of the same cream yellow color. I had never seen such a creature and I tended it carefully. One day I was changing its food and while doing so the dinner bell rang and I left it forgetting in my haste to place the glass cover on the jar. When I returned from my meal, imagine my horror at finding my jar uncovered with the window near it open and my specimen gone. On the floor beneath my table on which the jar stood, I had, some days before, placed two or three pieces of old fence rail, and as I glanced about in my searcli for it there was my larva calmly boring into one of them. I did not disturb it but watched all afternoon as it cut out rounded pellets and threw them aside, burying itself from sight by night fall and by next morning it had sealed the open- ing so neatly as to be hardly distinguished from the gray color Jan., '06] ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. 23 of the old wood. Surely after such a piece of good fortune it would disclose the imago, and tell me what it was. For three years I kept that chunk of wood on my hatching box, after carefully carrying it home so as to prevent jaring, and no moth emerged. Finally I split it open, and after this lapse of time the pupa seemed plump and clean. Its shell was granular and tough, reddish in color, much like the pupa of an Alypia octo- niaculata, I kept it a while longer but it never disclosed the imago. What was it ? Can anyone tell me ? I have searched the same region and locality every summer since but have never taken it again. The larva of Apatela lithospila also has the same habit of pupation. On Certain Tropical Ants Introduced Into the United States. BY WILLIAM MORTON WHEELER. In a collection of Formicidge belonging to the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences and sent me for identification by Dr. Henry Skinner, I find a number of specimens of Monomor- iitin destructor. This ant, originally described from India by Jerdon,* though introduced into the tropics of the New World, has not been recorded heretofore from the United States. The specimens are labeled "Black Warrior River, Tuscaloosa County, Alabama," and " Seminole Point, Monroe County, Florida," collected by Mr. Clarence B. Moore. As these localities are widely separated, one being at the tip of the peninsula of Florida, the other in the northwestern portion of Alabama, we may infer that the species has either been recently introduced at different points or is already widely distributed in the eastern Gulf States. That it is of comparatively recent importation from the tropics there can be little doubt. In his original description of Atta destructor, Jerdon give> the following brief account of the habits of the diminutive workers : " They live in holes in the ground or in walls, etc., * Madras Journ. of I.iU. and Si\ x\ ii, i^.si, p. 10=,. .il»uartnl in Ann Mai;. Nat. Hist, (2), xiii, 1854, ]'. 47. 24 ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. LJan-' '°6 and are very numerous in individuals. They prefer animal to vegetable substances, destroying dead insects, bird skins, etc., but also feed greedily on sugar. They are very common in all parts of India, and often prove very troublesome and destruct- ive to the naturalist." The bad reputation of this ant is ex- pressed in two other names which have been given it by Frederic Smith and Gerstgecker, on the supposition that it had not been previously described ; the former calling it Myrmica vastator, the latter Myrmica ominosa. The insect is repeatedly met with in the literature under these and other names like Monomorium atomaria and M. basale. There are now three imported species of Monomorium in the United States, all of which have probably been carried by ships from their original home in southeastern Asia, namely : M. pharaonis, M. floricola and M. destructor. The first is a widely distributed house-ant, not only in the tropics, but also in tem- perate Europe and America; the second is tropicopolitan, though it manages to subsist in our northern green-houses ; the last, as I have just shown, has begun to spread into tem- perate North America. In a recent paper* I recorded the introduction of a fourth Monomorium (M. salomonis L,inn), a well-known North African species, into the Bahamas. Another small tropical ant which has recently gained a foot- hold in the United States is Iridomyrmex hnmilis Mayr. This species has been taken in numbers in New Orleans by Mr. E. S. G. Titus. As a native of the New World, it was supposed to be confined to South America (Brazil and Argentina). It is not included among the known Mexican or Central Ameri- can ants, nor can I find any record of its occurrence in the West Indies. According to Stollf this ant has also been imported into Madeira where it has become a pest in houses and has sup- planted another previously introduced ant (P/icidole intgaff- phala Fabr.^) which was the house-ant of Madeira in the days of Heer.j Some idea of the numbers of Ph. mcgaccphala in Madeira in the middle of the last century may be gained from * The Ants of the Bahamas. Bull. Am. Mus, M;il. Hist. x\i, iL;iaphischen YerbrriUiii.n drr . \mrisrn. Mitt. a. schweiz. en torn. I rl < II. \, 3. 1898, pp. I '"-126. | IVIiir ilii- HaMsaiiH-isc M:idi iias. An die /uiirlici JuL;rnd auf das Jahr 1852 v. d. natintursrli. Gesell. 54 Stuck, i.s.sj, pp. 1-24 Taf. Jan., '06] ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. 25 the following extract from Heer's work : ' It occurs through- out the southern portion of the island of Madeira up to an elevation of 1,000 feet in prodigious numbers, especially in hot, sunn)' places, where it is to be found under eight out of every ten stones that may be overturned. In the city of Funchal there is probably not a single house that is not infested with millions of these insects. They climb to the top stories, issue in swarms from the cracks in walls and floors and keep traver- sing the rooms in all directions in regular files. They creep up the legs of the tables, along their edges and into the cup- boards, chests, etc. On account of their extremely diminu- tive size they are able to enter the smallest holes and crevices. Even when thousands and thousands of them are killed, there is no reduction in their numbers, as fresh armies are continually arriving." The recent displacement of this pest by another, Iridomyrmex humilis, bears a close and inter- esting analogy to the well-known displacement in Europe and America of the black house-rat (Mus rattns) by the brown species (M. decuman-its). In a similar manner, according to Stoll, another ant, Plagiolepis longipcs Jerdon, introduced into the island of Reunion from its original home in Cochin China, has driven out some of the primitive autochthonous species. We may also look forward to the appearance of this same ant within the warmer portions of the United States, since it has already been recorded by Pergande from Todos Santos in Lower California.* Still another foreign ant which has acquired a footing in tropical Florida and probably also in other localities in the Gulf States, is Prenolepis longicornis L/atreille. It has also be- come a common species in the green houses of temperate Europe and America. In some of these, as in the Jardin des Plantes in Paris, it has been a permanent resident for more than forty years. It may sometimes be found even on the top floors of the great apartment buildings in New York City. Wasmanf has just given good reasons for believing that the * Formiridae of Loxvrr Calil'oi nia. Mc\i, ... Proc. Cala. Ar.-itl . ^> p t Zur Lebensweise einigei in- mid au.slandiM-lu-n Ameisenga t< Wandi.-rim.ui-n M>H ColuiH-i-ra maderae \Ynll. (m-ulaia Bel.) mil I'li-nuK-pis liiiisji omi-. I .ati . Zeitschr. f. wiss, Insect. -biol. Bd. I, Hrft <>. Sept. 17, 1905, pp. ,N-V)0. 26 ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. [Jan., '06 original home of this ant is India and that it has been carried to all parts of the tropics in ships. He shows that it has been accompanied in these wanderings by two myrmecophiles, a L/athridiid beetle (Coluocera madcra} and a small cricket {Myrmecophila acervorum var. flavocinda.} Notes on Collecting in Mexico. BY J. F. McCLENDON, University of Pa., Philadelphia. In the summer of 1902. while seeking the cool plateau of Mexico as a quiet retreat to pursue my studies, I found near Guadalajara, Jalisco, some Neuropterous insects that were new to me, and the next summer planned a trip to Jalisco to col- lect insects and some other zoological specimens. Many of the specimens I took have been used in preparation of the Biologia Centrali-Americana, and at the request of Dr. P. P. Calvert I give the following account of my trip: On June 12, 1903, I crossed the border at Eagle Pass and reached Guadalajara by the Mexican International & Central Railways. Most of the suburbs of this city are covered by crops of corn and tobacco, but the ravine of the San- tiago forms an admirable collecting ground for an entomol- ogist, and here and in some deserted parks I spent most of my time. The altitude and the frequent rains of this sea- son made the air very cool and most of, the insects caught were nearctic, save at the bottom of the ravine, where, amid oranges, bananas and other tropical plants, are found many forms that have strayed from the hot shores of the Pa- cific. The further down the river I went, the more tropi- cal forms were met with, but as the natives were not in- clined to be civil, I did not go further than the Barranca de San Juan. One hideous night at that hacienda discouraged un- scientific zeal, and I preferred to lose a few hours on mule back each day rather than repeat such an experience. I went up in the mountains as far as Zapotlanejo, about 20 miles east of Guadalajara on horseback, and succeeded in returning with some specimens. Although I did not Jan., '06] ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. have to sleep in the portal, as at San Juan the best " room" I could get had no window- In September I spent a week at Tuxpan, near the construc- tion camp of that branch of the Mexican Central Railway and about 30 miles from the volcano of Colima. That was a lonely place, but the volcano, looking down on all the country round and expressing its varying moods in wreaths of white steam or black smoke or casting a red glow on the clouds at night, was a companion to me. Although much nearer the sea level, Tuxpan is cool in summer and has many nearctic besides tropical forms of insects. The leaf-cutter ant cuts roads through the grass and the Kelep ant swarms up the stems of shrubs in the same field. At this time I did not know that this large ant was the one introduced against the boll weevil, although I looked for the latter in vain. The natives of Tux- pan have some strange ceremonies developed from Indian dances and ideas gotten from Spanish missionaries, and the place is of interest to a tourist. Returning to Guadalajara I remained until the latter part of September, when I left the Republic. — ' <•» ' — A New Fossil Ant. BY T. D. A. COCKERELL. Florissant, not far from Pike's Peak, in Colorado, has long been known as a wonderful locality for fossil plants and insects. It is, in fact, a sort of Tertiary Pompeii where the fauna and flora of an ancient period are almost perfectly preserved in fine mud and sand, ejected by the volcanoes which at that time were in full operation in the Rocky Mountain region. During the present year, collections have been made at Florissant 1»\ Judge J. Henderson and Dr. F. Ramaley, of the University of Colorado, and while most of the specimens are plants, there are a few insects. In the first railroad cutting east of Floris- sant was obtained an excellently preserved spider, Clubiona arcana Scudder, $ ; at a different place, the northwest corner of " Fossil Stump Hill," an ant was found belonging to an uudescribed species. 28 ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. [Jan., '06 Ponera hendersoni n. sp. ?. Length about n mm. ; black ; anterior wing about 8 mm. ; head rather small, length slightly over 2 mm. ; width of abdomen a little over 2 mm. Nervures strong and dark ; the venation is in general similar to that of P. coarctata Latr., (cf. Wheeler, Biol. Bull., 1900, p. 47), but dif- fers as follows : Stigma longer and narrower, its lower edge nearly straight ; marginal cell longer, but not approaching so near the apex of the wing, the latter being also more produced ; costal cell broader in the middle, and giving off the basal nervure further from the stigma ; first submarginal cell long, though not as long as the marginal ; the first sub- marginal extends further basad than in P. coarctata, but not so far apicad, as the radial nervure is given off about the middle of the stigma, instead of beyond its middle as in P. coarctata ; first discoidal cell longer, being much longer than high, with the first recurrent nervure more oblique ; second submarginal cell about as in P. coarctata. Femora rather broad. The abdomen and other parts seem to present no distinctive features, except tbat the ocelli are smaller and closer together than in P. coarctata. Named after the collector, who is a well-known student of Colorado palaeontology. Type in the University of Colorado Museum ; it is intended to publish a figure later in connection with a general account of the Florissant collections. Children, if you meet a cricket, Please remember not to kick it ; Not a youth whose nature's sweet'll Strike a ladybug or beetle. If a daddy longlegs passes, Do not slay it (as alas ! is Often done by wicked urchins, Who deserve the soundest birchin's). When a gnat— that lively hummer, Which you'll hear when it is summer, Comes a-buzzing round your hat, it Is wrong to throw a pebble at it. Do not think me sentimental When I ask you to be gentle With the insect population Of our free and glorious nation. If you're kind in this partic'lar, They will buzz in your auric'lar ; Every child, of course, can see What a pleasure that will be.— London Globe. ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. [The Conductors of ENTOMOLOGICAL NKWS solicit and will thankfully receive items of news likely to interest its readers from any source. The author's name will be given in each case, for the information of cataloguers and bibliographers.] To Contributors. — All contributions will be considered and passed upon at oui earliest convenience, and, as far as may be, will be published according to date of recep- tion. ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS has reached a circulation, both in numbers and circumfer- ence, as to make it necessary to put " copy " into the hands of the printer, for each num- ber, three weeks before date of issue. This should be remembered in sending special or important matter for a certain issue. Twenty-five " extras," without change in form, will be given free, when they are wanted ; and this should be so stated on the MS., along with the number desired. The receipt of all papers will be acknowledged. — ED. PHILADELPHIA, PA., JANUARY, 1906. It will be remembered that we decided to place on the cover of each volume of the NEWS the most interesting, curious or wonderful insect described from North America in the pre- ceding year. We asked for suggestions from our subscribers as to the selection of the insect, but never received any, so if our selection is poor they can have no legitimate complaint. Our first effort resulted in a bee- tle being selected (Ignotus ccnig- maticus Slosson), the second was a bee, and now we present a dip- teron. This curious species was described by Mr. D. W. Coquil- lett in the Canadian Entomolo- gist, p. 347, 1905- Specimens were collected by Prof. Cockerell on the summit of L,as Vegas Mountains, New Mexico, and by Mr. Henry L. Viereck on top of the main range of the Rocky Mountains, near Beulah, New . , , Mexico. These are probably identical localities. The specimens collected by Mr. Viereck are in the collection of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. In the future we hope to have aid from our subscribers in the selection of each year's insect. aspidobtera Coquillett. 29 3O ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. [Jan., '06 Notes and Ne\vs. ENTOMOLOGICAL GLEANINGS FROM ALL QUARTERS OP THE GLOBE. NOMENCLATURE OF CERTAIN NORTH AMERICAN ODONATA. — Recent work on the " Biologia Centrali-Americana " has directed my attention to questions of nomenclature of some familiar North American species as follows : 1. Hagen, in his Synopsis of i86r, gave, as one of the species of Libellula, L. luctuosa Burm., and placed L. basalts Say as a synonym thereof. In his Synopsis of 1875, he gave basalis Say as the name of the species and placed luctuosa Burm. as the synonym, and American authors since have followed his later example. Hagen's reversal was apparently due to a change in his ideas as to the relative priority of Burmeister's and Say's names, both of which were published in 1839. On this question I have no fuller information than that given by Hagen in Psyche, v, p. 369, but the correct name of this species now appears to be ascertain- able on other grounds. Mr. Kirby, in his catalogue of 1890, p. 29, uses luctuosa as the name of the species and basalis as the synonym. He does not indicate his reason for so doing, as he has done on the same page in the case of axilena vs. lydia. A study of this Catalogue, how- ever, led me to the following data : Newman, in 1833, described Synipe- trum basalis (now regarded as a synonym of .5". sanguineum Miiller, 1764). Stephens, in 1835, redescribed Newman's species as Libellula basalis ; consequently both Say's Libellula basalis of 1839, and Libellula basalis Burm., 1839, a name for a still different species, are homonyms and must be rejected. The proper names and the synonymy of the last two species would therefore be— Libellula luctuosa Burm., 1839. Libellula basalis Say, 1839. Libelhda odiosa Hagen, 1861. Be Ionia luctuosa et odiosa Kirby, 1890. Tramea incerta (Ramb., 1842). Libellula basalis Burm., 1839. Tramea basalis Kirby, 1890. 2. Hagen, in his Synopsis of 1861, established the genera Erythetnis (p. 168), under which stand as species: i. furcata Hag., 2 bicolor Erich., 3. longipes Hag , and Mesothemis (p. 170) including i. sinip/i- cicollis Say, 2. collocata Hag., 3. corrupta Hag., 4. illota Hag., 5. attala Selys, 6. niithra Selys, 7. longipennis Burm. He did not spe- cify a type-species for either genus. This was first done by Mr. Kirby, in his Revision of the Libellulinae of 1889, in which he named bicolor as the type of Erythemis, and siniplicicollis as that of Mcsolhcmis. llicolor is a synonym of peruviana Ramb., and between this species and shnpli- cicollis I can find no differences of generic value. Both Jan., '06] ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. 31 (bicolor] and simplicicollis must be placed in the same genus, and as Erythetnis precedes Mesothemis in Hagen's work, Erythemis must be the name of that genus. Consequently a very familiar dragonfly of the United States must be styled Erythemis simplicicollis (Say). A different conclusion will be drawn by those who take the first species enumerated under a new generic name as the type thereof. Furcata Hagen is generically different from bicolor Erichs. and is a Cannacria Kirby. To the " first species = type" school, simplicicollis will remain a Mesothemis, and Cannacria will disappear as a synonym of Erythemis. Present rules, however, would appear to favor the preceding view, which is that which has been adopted for the ' Biologia.' 3. I merely mention that in the ' Biologia' return has been made to the original spelling sEshna, instead of the later ALschna. PHILIP P. CALVERT. CORRECTION TO THE LIST OF NEW ENGLAND ODONATA. — In the recently (October, 1905) published list of New England Odonata (Occa- sional Papers, Boston Soc. Nat. Hist , vii, Fauna of New England .6. List of the Odonata), I included Argia apicalis (Say) on the authority of the late Prof. Harvey. Prof Harvey's record was published in the NEWS, ii, p. 51. Mr. E. B. Williamson, who recently acquired part of Prof. Harvey's collection, writes me as follows : " I see Arg. apicalis is recorded from New England on Harvey's collecting. You will notice in Harvey's record in ENT. NEWS that this specimen was taken same date and place m putrida. A few days ago I started to list the Harvey collec- tion . . . and I find a 9 Argia labelled by him apicalis, date as recorded in ENT. NEWS, associated in box with 29 9, unlabelled. All three are very adult specimens oipuirida. As you have probably noticed, the very adult 9 9 of putrida become pearly-blue like apicalis and not a dense, dingy-white pruinose like old males." Apicalis is consequently to be stricken from the list, until, as is likely, it be found in New England. - PHILIP P. CALVERT. RARE OHIO LEPIDOPTERA.— I send a few records of rare captures which may be of interest. On July 2nd, 1905, I took a fresh specimen of Calephelis borealis, and on October 3rd a torn specimen of Catopsilia eubitle, both new to this locality. While bush-beating for larvae on linden I got a larva, which hatched out on August 3rd a fine tf of Thecla m-albnm. Only once before has this been taken here. I saw in the NEWS that Eros aurora had been taken in numbeis in the East. On September lyth, around two rotten stumps, I took twenty-five fresh specimens, and might have taken more if it had not set in to rain. I took several more later. Previous to this I only had one specimen. 1 have been especially interested in the Bombycidae and Geometrician, and the past season reared quite a number of the larvce of those species.— G. R. PILATE, 321 Forest Avenue, Dayton, Ohio. 3? ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. [Jan., '06 OUR criticism of the hasty publication of entomological facts has brought us a letter from Mr. Sherman and a note in print from Miss Soule. Both make the excuse that literature is difficult of access. It is a maxim that ignorance of the law excuses no one. Ignorance of pre- vious work should result, not in hasty publication, but in consultation of someone better posted, or in discreet silence. The officers of the U. S. National Museum will always reply to questioners seeking information of this nature. We would reply to Miss Soule that we have no objection to "popular" articles that are frankly such and give proper credit to antecedent work. We have criticised authors for hasty and uncritical work ; but there is another aspect of the case. What is the condition of editorial respon- sibility in a journal that accepts these articles without question ? — HAR- RISON G. DYAR. GUELPH, CANADA, Dec. 9, 1905. EDITOR NEWS :— I must confess to a feeling of relief upon seeing Dr. Dyar taken to task in the last issue of the NEWS by both Dr. Skinner and Miss Soule, for it shows that I am not alone in my dislike for unnecessary and caustic rebukes. The brief article which I recently contributed to the NEWS on the pupating habit of Harrisimemna trisignata was not specially in- tended for use as a leading article, but even if it did so appear it does not seem to me that it need bring out any severe rebuke. Two other entomologists kindly wrote me immediately after the appearance of the article giving me the information I needed, and which I asked for, while Dr. Dyar published a brief and caustic rebuke a month later, so that it was of no help to me whatever. I do not see the use of one being so anxious to critizise every imaginary or real mistake. I wrote Dr. Dyar a personal letter containing much the same sentiments expressed in Miss Soule's note, and had ho intention of taking this matter into print and only do so now lest my reticence in the matter should be misunderstood. If anyone will read my article in the NEWS for October, I think he will agree that Dr. Dyar's remarks in the issue for November are needlessly harsh, if not altogether uncalled for. —FRANKLIN SHERMAN, JR. WE can't refrain from noticing Dr. Dyar's criticism as it is so mani- festly unjust. We were not previously aware that the law and entomol- ogy were on a par, but, as Dr. Dyar says they are, that is the end of it. If writers for the NEWS wish to submit their articles to the officers of the U. S. National Museum we offer no objection. That the polyp/iciuits moth has stemmed and stemless cocoons has been known to the Editor of the NKWS for at least thirty years, and, moreover, he published the fact six years before the citation given by Dr. Dyar. He is also aware that the same thing was published in 1797, and by later writers, includ- ing Dr. Riley, in the Missouri Reports. The writer wrote to Miss Soule stating he had found many such cocoons, but as he was interested in her studies of the matter and thought other NEWS readers would Jan., '06] ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. 33 be also, he put the article in the NEWS. Miss Soule has a love for natural history and her endeavor to find out the distribution of the stemmed and stemless cocoon is most praiseworthy. She gives her experience with cocoons in Eastern New York, Massa- chusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont, and the pith of the whole matter is in the concluding paragraph on page 175 of vol. xvi. We are not greatly troubled by Dr. Dyar's remarks on "The condition of editorial responsibility," as the success of the NEWS shows. We pub- lish in the NEWS what we think of interest to its readers, and the assump- tion that everything is new and that if it is not it is due to ignorance of the facts on the part of the editors is preposterous. We don't live on ice water. We were also aware that the life history of Harrisimennia trisignala had been studied by a number of entomologists, but as the article on that subject interested our readers and brought valuable com- ment we are also satisfied on that score. Our space is too valuable and limited to publish a bibliography with each article. — H. S. T. Polyphemus COCOONS. — In answer to my question about the forms of polyphemus cocoons, I have had many interesting letters whose reports I give briefly. From Massachussetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut and Vermont " no stems " were reported ; " never heard of one with a stem " being added more than once. Delaware, New York, and Pennsylvania report both forms, sometimes one given as predominating, sometimes the other. One collector in New Jersey gives figures : out of 20,000 cocoons but 200 had stems. Missouri has both forms according to two collectors ; all stems, accord- ing to one, all stems except one specimen, according to another. Indiana — all stems except one specimen Ohio — all stems, " even when spun in a cage," one student writes. From Canada a small percentage of stems is reported, and this form is thought, by two persons, to be made by diseased or parasitized larvae in Canada. Cocoons with stems, sent me from the West, gave superb moths, but two similar ones gave parasites, indicating that these have no connection with the form of cocoon. Of course, these reports are not enough to justify any theory, and the reports from any state might be balanced by the experience of collectors who have not sent any information, so there is nothing final reached. One interesting fact was given. A collector wrote that the form with stems was always found on maples on the streets of towns, while the stemless form was found in the woods, either on the ground or spun against the trunk or branch of a tree. The same difference was noted by two other persons, one of whom Miggested that the susp'-iiMon might be because in the streets the leaves on the ground were cleared away in the autumn. — CAROLINE GRAY SOULE. 34 ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. [Jan., '06 STRATEGUS INJURING DATE-PALMS. — Professor R. H. Forbes recently sent me a fine male Strategus jii/ianus, which he reported as eating roots of date palms in Arizona. I am indebted to Mr. Fall for assist- ance in determining the species. In Alabama, .5". antams has been reported to injure peach roots (cf. Bull. 22, Div. Ent. , Dep. Agr., p. 105. -T. D. A. COCKERELL. THE DISTRIBUTION OF HELICONIUS CHARITONIUS LINN^US IN THE UNITED STATES. — That this distinctly tropical butterfly has a wider range within the United States than has heretofore been assigned to it by authors has come to the knowledge of the writer. One of his valued correspondents, residing in Waco, Texas, informs him in a recent letter that he has captured three specimens of the insect at the latter place, and he is further informed by one of his assistants, who was long resident in Kansas, that he himself has seen several specimens in the possession of local collectors in Kansas, which were taken in the southern part of that State. That these specimens taken in Kansas are individuals which strayed northward is no doubt true, but that the insect occurs in considerable numbers as far north as central Texas is proved by recent observations. If occurring as far north as Kansas, it may also well occur, and undoubtedly does occur, in Louisiana, and possibly also as a straggler in Arkansas. --W. J. HOLLAND. INSECT GALLS. — There has just come to hand a very useful and nicely- illustrated paper on the "Insect galls of Indiana," written by Dr. M. T. Cook (who is now in Cuba), and published by the Department of Geo- logy and Natural Resources of Indiana. It is much to be hoped that this paper will stimulate interest in this rather neglected subject, which in Europe has such a large following that a journal is published, devoted exclusively to it. While we must confess that galls have received only a small fraction of the attention they deserve in this country, we must protest against the idea prevalent in some quarters that nothing has been done. On two different occasions, Dr. Bessey referred (in Sci- ence) to Dr. Cook's papers as if they constituted practically the first lit- erature on galls in America. Even Dr. Cook himself, although he announces that he is working on a monograph of the insect-galls of North America, states that Coccid galls have only been reported from Austra- lia, whereas they are known from the United States, Ceylon, South Africa, etc. I notice that Dr. Cook retains the name Pemphigus vagabundus Walsh, for the gall on cottonwood usually known by this name. Oestlund (Aphididse of Minnesota, 1887, p. 22) showed that this was not the true vagabundus of Walsh, but did not propose a new name. I propose that the P. vagabnndus of Oestlund, described in the place cited, be known as Pemphigus cestlundi. It is found as far west as Colorado. Walsh's species is probably unrecognizable. — T. D. A. COCKERELL. Jan., '06] ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. 35 A FEATHERED worm has made its appearance in different parts of the State of North Carolina, and a number of people have been made very ill by its bite. The insect is not unlike a white earth worm, but has a covering of brown down, similar to that of a young bird. Its bite is so poisonous that in a few seconds after receiving the wound the victim swells enor- mously and displays symptoms not unlike those of a snake bite. The worm feeds on maple trees and rose bushes. Its presence on the latter accounts for the number of women victims. No one is able to classify the insect. Several specimens are being prepared for shipment to Washington for examination to establish its identity. — New York Times. Doings of Societies. The October meeting of the Newark Entomological Society was held on the 8th, with President Keller in the chair and 24 members present. Messrs. J. Schmich, M. Schulze and B. Porter were proposed and elected to membership. The following captures were reported : Ardia redilinca, by Mr. Wormsbacher. Melanomma auricindaria (Lep.) and Catocala relida at New- ark, by Mr. Broadwell. Mr. Buchholz exhibited a $ of Argynnis idalia, caught by himself at Plainfield, N. J., with primaries almost black; secondaries entirely black on top and marginal row of silvery spots underneath absent ; submarginal row almost wanting and inner ones greatly reduced. Semiophora janualis, Agrotis geniculata, Porosagrotis murce- nulc, Mamestra laudabilis and Acronyda tritona at L/akehurst, N. J., were reported by Messrs. Keller and Buchholz. After adjournment of the business meeting the 2ist anni- versary of the Society was celebrated ; a good supper and refreshments were amply provided for by the committee in charge. The music was furnished by Professors Weidt and Wormsbacher and an all around good humor prevailed until the end. The November meeting of the Newark Entomological So- ciety was held on the i2th, with President Keller in the chair and 13 members present. The officers' election resulted as follows: President, Mr. 36 ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. [Jan., '06 Geo. J. Keller, re-elected ; Vice President, Mr. H. H. Brehme ; Secretary, Mr. Otto Buchholz, re-elected ; Treasurer, Mr. S. Seib, re-elected ; Librarian, Mr. Wm. Broadwell, re-elected ; Curator (Lep.), Mr. J. B. Angelman, re-elected; Curator (Col.), Mr. E. A. Bischoff, re-elected. Mr. Wasmuth exhibited some rare specimens of Lepidoptera; among them were : Sphinx franckii, Sphinx canadcnsis, Ellema coniferarum (larvae), Papilio philenor u'asmuthi, 9 of Arctia nevadensis, Catocala elda and a $ of Argynnis nokomis. Mr. Buchholz had specimens of a new species of Acronycta caught at Elizabeth, N. J. OTTO BUCHHOLZ, Secretary. Minutes of meeting of Brooklyn Entomological Society, held at the residence of Mr. George Franck, 1040 DeKalb avenue, Brooklyn, N. Y., on October 5, 1905. Eighteen persons pres- ent, the president in the chair. Mr. James Lever, of Brook- lyn, was duly elected a member. Prof. John B. Smith gave an outline of the work connected with the extermination of mosquitoes in Staten Island and the adjacent Long Island salt marshes, with photographs showing apparatus and localities. Investigation had proved that in the spring of 1905, Cule.v sollidtans did not breed in New Jersey, but did breed on Stateu Island, from whence the insects had been traced in their flight to the Orange Mts. and thence to Madison and Morristown, N. J. It became essential therefore that action should be taken by the New York City authorities, who had accordingly, upon application, appropriated $17,000, based on the report and estimate of Mr. Brehme, who had ex- amined the conditions on the Island. This sum had been further reduced on advertised bids to $15,500 and the work of elimina- ting mosquito breeding areas there was rapidly progressing. The Brooklyn City Railroad Company was also greatly aiding in the matter by removing ashes on specially constructed box cars, each car conveying four giant ash cans holding many tons of material, which, by means of cranes, was expeditious!}- dumped upon the Coney Island and Gravesend marshes, whereby, not only was the refuse promptly taken away, but much worthless meadow was being reclaimed and made val- Jan., '06] ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. 37 uable and incidentally the breeding places of mosquitoes were becoming greatly diminished. Professor Smith further explained that the unusual freedom from mosquitoes which large sections of Long Island enjoyed the past summer was due to the lack of rain during the pre- vious spring and the consequent drying up of pools and marshes to such an extent that subsequent showers proved insufficient to provide moisture enough for the development of the eggs and larvae. Mr. Wasmuth exhibited a fine series of Apantesis oithona and variation redilinea, the latter heretofore recorded only from the Mississippi Valley, which he had found resting on grass stems in a field near Woodhaven, L. I., about May 15. Mr. H. H. Newcomb, of Boston, being present, gave the Society much interesting information concerning the progress of things entomological and collections in that city. ARCHIBALD C. WEEKS, Secretary. A stated meeting of the Feldman Collecting Social, of Philadelphia, was held November 15, 1905, 11 members pres- ent. Mr. Laurent exhibited specimens of Erannis tiliaria and Euchlacna obtnsaria, taken at Mount Airy, Philadelphia. The first-named species was not in Mr. Laurent's list of Pennsyl- vania moths published some time ago. Mr. Daecke stated that he had received a communication from Professor Hine in which he reports a typical specimen of Chrysops amazon from New Hampshire. Mr. Daecke also exhibited specimens of Rhagoletis pomonclla, bred on huckle- berry. A few overripe huckleberries infested by small dipterous larvae wrere collected at Da Costa, N. J., Aug. 16, 1904. The larvae went into the ground to pupate. One imago emerged May 3ist, 1905, and proved to be Rhagoletis pomonella \Vulsh, belonging to the famih^ Trypetidae. The larva is the well- known apple maggot. Mr. Wenzel exhibited the work of a Scolytid in roots of huckleberry. The species is Corthylus punctatissimu$i taken l>v 3§ ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. [Jan., '06 Mr. Wenzel, Jr., on October 22nd, at Cape May Court House. This is the only subterranean-Scolytid known. Mr. H. W. Wenzel exhibited a collection of Coleoptera, made by H. Wenzel, Jr., on Tybee island, on the coast of Georgia, during the latter part of July, approximating 3,000 speci- mens. The collection contained a great number of very interesting species. Carabidae were rarely found on the ground. A species of Gclasimus (fiddeler crab) is sole pro- prietor of all soil in the woods. In going over the collection the speaker dwelt on the following species : By beating trees, Ptcrostichus submarginatus , PlocJiionus amandus, and other Carabidae were found. Among the Histeridae a beautiful blue species near Paromalus — probably a new species. In the Elateridae several very interesting species — Dendrocharis flavi- cornis, Stcthon errans, Nematodes pavidus ; a species near Moiw- crepidius, unknown to the speaker, was found at night on the sand hills near the beach ; this is a pale unicolored insect. In Buprestidae — Xenorhipes brendeli, Actenodes anronotatus and other species. Drapetes geminatus and D. rubricollis. In Cler- idae Hydnoccra aegra and other species. Ptinidae — twenty species were taken, including several species recently described by Mr. Fall. In Scarabaeidae, a number of species, Lachnos- terna glaberrima being common. Cerambycidae are repre- sented by a number of species. Lypsimena fuscata in numbers showing a great difference in size. Chrysomelidae represented by a number of species. Bruchus coryphae and B. cruentatus, the former a most beautiful species, in numbers. Tenebrio- nidae not numerous, Platydcma cyanesccns, a fine species was taken. Oedemeridae, Mordellidae and Anthici are represented, Formiconius scitnl/ts a beautiful little species was found com- mon with Mecynotarsus candidus and Anthicus pallens. The Curculionidae are well represented, especially Conotrachelus and allied genera, probably one or two new species. Scoly- tidae not numerous. Anthribidae are well represented. A complete list of all species found on Tybee Island by Dr. Castle and Mr. Wenzel will be published in ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. F. HAIMBACH, Secretary, THE BUTTERFLIES OF THE WEST COAST BY W. G. WRIGHT, OF CALIFORNIA. Who for twenty years has been gathering material for this -work. The book is S x 10 inches in size of page, contains 260 pages of text, and 32 plates in the best of color- J photography, containing nearly a thousand figures, photographed directly from the insects themselves and reproduced in all their natural colors, and includes either in the description or plates, or both, every species known on the West Coast. A HANDBOOK FOR STUDENTS AND A REFERENCE BOOK FOR LIBRARIES. The species, from Parnassius to Megathymus, 483 names, are all figured, numbered, and described consecutively. Usually three figures are given of each species the male, the female and the underside— but of some variable or disputed forms additional figures are added, and of common species only one figure is given. Similar forms are placed on the plates as near together as possible to facilitate comparison. ILLUSTRATIONS OF MANY WEST COAST BUTTERFLIES NEVER BEFORE FIGURED Sent by registered post prepaid to any country on receipt of price, 14.35. by the author. The colored plates with all the figures named, but no text, are for sale, singly, or in sets. W. 6. WRIGHT, 445 F. ST., SAN BERNARDINO, CALIFORNIA ILLUSTRATIONS OF DIURNAL LEPIDOPTERA WITH DESCRIPTIONS BY ANDREW GRAY WEtKS, JR., 190$ 117 pages and 45 colored plates, by J. Henry Blake, ad. nat., and P>. Meisel, lithographer, descriptive of 81 species hitherto undescribed or figured, mostly from Bolivia, with steel plate frontispiece of Samuel Hubbard Scudder. The plates cover all species describe^ and represent the limit of perfection in lithographic art, being considered equal to. or superior to, any previous productions. $15.00 postage paid. H. PECK, AGENT, 8 CONGRESS STREET, BOSTON, MASS RARE ARIZONA INSECTS FOR SALE Orders taken for Amblychila baroni, Plusiotis beyeri, P. lecontei, Oncido, •» quercus, Byrsopolis lanigera. Neophasia terlooti, and other rare butterflies and moths. Fine fresh specimens of Plusiotis g/oriosa, fr.oo. Pupa? of Crinodes biedermani, $2 50 each. Imagos, after July, $5.00. Apply lo C. R. BfEDERMAN, Palmerlee, Cochise County, Arizona. WEST INDIAN INSECTS. LEPIDOPTERA, COLEOPTERA AND HYMENOPTERA A SPECIALTY Mr. C. H. Armstrong, late Curator Natural History Society. Toronto, Canada, is now on a collecting trip in the- \\Vst Imlit -s, <-\|>e< tint; to reside there permanently, solicits loi insects in all order--. Sr:is,m'> catch, or in families, or otherwise. Address C. H. Armstrong, Georgetown, Demerara, W. I. W»ien Writing Please Mention " Kiitomoloijicn I New*." SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT! AMERICAN ENTOMOLOGICAL COMPANY, 1O4O DE KALB AVENUE BROOKLYN, NEW YORK MANUFACTURERS OF THE ONLY GENUINE SCHMITT INSECT BOXES notify their many patrons that from Jan. i, 1906, prices of Schmitt boxes will be reduced to the old figures. Cat No. 6.— No. 475, Schmitt Box No. 2, plain edge, patent cork lined $1.00 Cat. No. 6. —No. 477, Schmitt Box No. 3, protruding edge, pat. cork lined 1.05 No Schmitt Boxes made without patent cork in any style. Other Schmitt Boxes also included in this reduction GEORGE FRANCK, MANAGER THE KNY SCHEERER CO. DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL SCIENCE. G. LAGAI. Ph.D., 225-233 Fourth Ave., New York, N. Y. PARIS EXPOSITION : m^S^^^^ PAN-AMERICAN EXPOSITION : Eight Awards and Medals ^§EHlyW\l Gold Medal ST. LOUIS EXPOSITION : Grand Prize and Gold Medal ENTOMOLOGICAL SUPPLIES AND SPECIMENS North American and exotic insects of all orders in perfect condition. Single specimens and collections illustrating mimicry, protective coloration, dimorphism, collections of representatives of the different orders of insects, etc. Series of specimens illustrating insect life, color variation, etc. Metamorphoses of insects. We manufacture all kinds of insect boxes and cases (Schmitt insect boxes, Lepidoptera boxes, etc.), cabinets, nets, insects pins, forceps, etc.. Riker specimen mounts at reduced prices. Catalogues and special circulars free on application. Rare insects bought and sold. When Writing 1'lease Mention "Entomological News." P. ('. Stock hausen. Printer, 53-55 N. 7th Street, Philadelphia. FEBRUARY, 1906. ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS Vol. XVII. No. 2. Limnophila aspidoptera Coquillett. EDITOR : HENRY SKINNER, M. D. PHILIP P. CALVERT, Ph.D., Associate Editor. KZKA T. CRKSSON. PHII.1P LAURKNT. ADVISORY COMMITTEE: HENRY L. VIERKCK. J. A. G. RKHN. WILLIAM J. FOX. H. \V. \\ I ' PHILADELPHIA: ENTOMOLOGICAL ROOMS OF THE ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES, LOGAN SQUARE. Kntered at the Philadelphia Post-Offic« as Second-Cl«*» Matter ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS Published monthly, excepting July and August, in charge of the Entomological Section of the Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, and the American Entomological Society. ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION, $1.OO IN ADVANCE. Outside of the United States and Canada, $1.20. Advertising Rates: 30 cents per square inch, single insertion ; a liberal discount on longer insertions. No advertisement taken for less than 60 cents — Cash in advance. All remittances should be addressed to ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS, Academy of Natural Sciences, 19th and Race Streets, Philadelphia, Pa. EXOTIC LEPIDOPTERA. ERNEST SWINHOE, 6, Gunteistone Road, West Kensington, London, W Cat. No. 15 for 1906 free. The only dealers' list giving authors' names throughout. 100 named speci- mens, i qual : ex Assam, 40 different species in papers, including Papilio boo- tes, gyas, etc., mailed free on receipt of Post Office Order $4.00 Explanatory Catalogue, with over 300 descriptions and many interesting notes 12 cents. PARCELS SENT ON APPROVAL FOR SELECTION. FOR SALE CHEAP for cash — collection of Coleoptera, Diptera, Hymenoptera and Hemiptera. 5000 species, 25,000 specimens contained in 250 Schmitt and other boxes. All in first-class condition. Determinations by best Amer. and Europ. specialists WM. A. NASON, ALGONQUIN, ILLINOIS. NEW PUBLICATIONS COLEOPTERA Revision of the Ptinidae of Boreal America, by H. C. Fall. 200 pp., i pi (Trans., 1905) $2.OO HYMENOPTERA Notes on Some Bees in the British Museum, by T. D. A. Cockerel 1. 56 pp. (Trans., 1905) 5O Synopsis of Euceridas, Emphoridae and Anthophoridae, by Charles Rob- ertson. 8pp. (Trans., 1905) 1O Descriptions of new species of Neotropical Hvmenoptern ; Descriptions of four new species of Odynerus from Mexico, by P. Cameron 19 pp. (Trans., 1905) 2O APTERA A Revision of the Mouth-parts of the Corrodentia and the Mallophas;;i, by R. E. Snodgrass. n pp., i pi. (Trans. 1905) . 1O MAILED ON RECEIPT OF PRICE E. T. CRESSON, Treasurer, P. O. Box 24S, Philadelphia, Pa. When Writing Please Mention "Entomological NCWH." ENT. NEWS, Vol. XVII. PI. I. 89f9 m 11 1^ 13 H 15 66 o7 EYE MACULATIONS OF THE GENUS CHRYSOPS. All li.sjures are taken fri)in feiiiales except those marked 3. 1-4 ('. ci-li-i- .s ( '.fuga i 6- 7 C~. niger S C '. M ' . i" i ; C. 14-15 C". 16 C". inoittaiiHs i 7- hi ( '. i a /liit its 20 C". delicatulus ji-j;, 6". dimnitn-ki • I ( '. i iid us j.S-2fi C. mnrnsHS 2~ j.s t". hilai'ix 29-30 t". bistellatus 31-32 C. moeclius 33-35 C. obsoli'tns 36-39 C'. univittatus 40-42 C.J'alla.r 43 6". iiitri't'iis 44-49 C'. vitlatim 50-51 C. segua.v 52 C. striatux 53 C. cursiw 54-60 C. pit die its 61-62 (". brunni u 63-67 C.Jiavidux ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS AND PROCEEDINGS OF THE ENTOMOLOGICAL SECTION ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES, PHILADELPHIA. VOL. XVII. FEBRUARY, 1906. No. 2. CONTENTS: Daecke — On the Eye-Coloration of the Genus Chrysops 39 Wickham — The Races of C i c i n d e 1 a tranquebarica Hhst 43 Coquillett— A New Tabanus Related to punctifer 48 Howard— Prof. Berlese's Apparatus for Collecting Small Arthropods Rap- idly and in Great Quantities 49 De la Torre Bueno — On Some Aquatic Hemiptera from Costa Rica, Cen- tral America 54 Smith — Some Notes on the Bee Genus Caupolicana 57 Troop — A New Aphid 59 Brues — A New Subapterous Encyrtid. . 61 Kellogg — A Gigantic New Biting Bird- Louse 62 Wellman— Observations on the Biono- mics of Auchmeromyia luteola Fab. 64 Editorial 68 Notes and News 69 Doings of Societies 70 On the Eye-Coloration of the Genus Chrysops. BY E. DAECKE. (Plate i.) •- Little has been recorded on the eye-maculatioh of Chry- sops, yet every student of this interesting genus, when in doubt of where to place a specimen will examine the eyes in order to obtain additional information to separate it from its allied forms. Baron Osten-Sacken, in his Prodrome, Part i, page 369, has briefly referred to this character. The fact that the design disappears as soon as the insect is dried makes it inconvenient for study, and to relax the speci- men, which will bring the image back again to some extent, is done at the risk of ruining it. This, combined with the fact that the design-variation in some species is so great as to run into and correspond with that of other species, likely has caused students to carefully avoid writing on this subject. The vast design-variation in the species renders a synoptic 39 46 ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. [Feb., '06 table of this genus by this character impossible, but enough matter of value remains that I deem it expedient to offer these remarks accompanied by the figures, and hope that it may stimulate to further research in this direction. My observations were mainly made on the New Jersey species, though a few others, so far not recorded from New Jersey, have been figured. The figures are taken from females except Nos. 19, 32, 40 and 43, which are marked $ . The design of the male eye necessarily differs from that of the female. The male eye being holoptic the design is longer and drawn toward the vertex. As a rule it is indistinct in the vertical region or fades away entirely, a reddish bronze lustre frequently taking its place. The upper spot near the frontal margin is seldom recognizable. The middle spot, gen- erally present, rarely corresponds in shape with that of the female. It is generally elongated toward the vertex, in which direction it frequently loses its definite contour. In C. calli- dus the shape of lower frontal spot and its contiguity to the frontal margin (Fig. 19), in C. mocchus the arrow-head (Fig. 32) betray the identity with their respective females. The m&\efallax resembles the female in its linear shaft which is disconnected from the arrow-head and occipital border (Fig. 40). On account of their scarcity the eyes of males of only a few species have been studied. The normal eye of Chrysops consists of six purple spots on a green ground-color. 1. The occipital border, generally indentated in the middle, along the occipital margin. 2. The arrow-head, in front of the indentation of the occip- ital border, pointing downward. 3. The shaft, either attached to or disconnected from the arrow-head, upwards. 4. The upper frontal spot 1 5. The middle frontal spot V along the frontal margin. 6. The lower frontal spot J It does not matter what shape these spots assume or in what manner they combine with each other, these six spots Feb., '06] ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. 41 can always be recognized by their relative positions. There may be two, three, four, five or all connected with each other, thus it will happen that in C. dimmocki and C. Indus all spots are connected in some way. Again there may be as many as ten spots (C. flavidus], but it will be readily seen that this greater number is caused by the subdivision of some of the above-named maculations. The arrow-head and middle spot either coalesce or are sep- arated in the same species (see celer, niger, callidus, dimmocki}. The same may be said of arrow-head and occipital border be- low (nigri bimbo, dimmocki, flavidns, etc.) The coalescence of upper spot, shaft and occipital border near vertex is equally unreliable as a distinguishing character (uniwttatus, pudicus} but the connection and separation of border and occipital mar- gin appear to be singularly permanent ; thus in all specimens examined oiflavidus the occipital border is separated from the margin, while in bninneus, a closely allied species \.o flavidns, it is united to it. (Fig. 61 is taken from a New Jersey speci- men, Fig. 62 from a specimen from Ohio). The eye of pudicus resembles that of brunneus, here the border also joins the occipital margin, but the middle spot is distinctly different from that of brunneus. See figure. The eyes of pudicus and cursim seem to be identical in maculation. Not enough specimens of cursim were procurable to enable me to come to a definite conclusion. In brunneus , flavidus , pudicus and cursim the shaft is always disconnected from arrow-head. Vittatus has its border joining the occipital margin ; in one case only it was found to be partly separated. All specimens examined of striatus and seqnax had the bor- der separated from the occipital margin. Niger and brimleyi are closely allied species and also have a strong resemblance in their eye-maculation. In briwlcyi, how- ever, the maculation is very much heavier, the border does not join the occipital margin as it does in niger. This latter character is variable in nigribinibo. Fugax closely resembles celer, but can at once be separated from the latter by the absence of shaft. Fig. 5 answers very 42 ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. [Feb., '06 well for all specimens examined of fugax. Nos. i and 2 are the rule, Nos. 3 and 4 the exceptions of celer. About fifty specimens of plangens were examined and Fig. 9 suffices for all of them. The eye of amazon resembles that of ccler but the shaft of amazon is curiously divided in the middle, the upper part con- nected with occipital border, the lower part with arrow-head. In fallax the shaft is generally free, that is, neither con- nected above or below ; in rare cases it is connected with arrow- head. In this species the occipital border is subdivided in the middle, the lower portion of border partly coalesces with occi- pital margin. Callidus, dimmocki and indus are the only New Jersey species in which the upper and lower frontal spots coalesce with frontal margin. The pattern of dimmocki is generally very heavy, the green background often reduced to fine lines surrounded by the purple maculation. The design of callidus corresponds at times with that of indus, but as a rule the lower frontal spot of callidus has a tendency to terminate scroll-shaped, which has not been observed in indus. The two figures of bistellatns show the extreme range of maculatiou of all the known specimens. Delicatulus has often been mistaken for a light and small form of callidzis ; the eye, however, shows decided differences. The upper and lower frontal spots of delicatulus are not con- nected with the frontal margin, the upper spot merges into the occipital border, crowding out the shaft which, at this juncture, is usually disconnected. Hilaris, which has so far not been recorded from New Jersey, is the only other species thus far examined in which the upper spot joins the occipital border without allowing the shaft its respectively intermediate position, the shaft frequently being abbreviated. This paper represents the result of only one summer's ob- servations, and there is no doubt that many other variations of the species figured will be found. It remains to be seen to what an extent the widely distributed species will show design- variation from those that have been studied. Feb., '06] ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. 43 The Races of Cicindela tranquebarica Hbst. BY H. F. WICKHAM, Iowa City, Iowa. Almost every writer who has had occasion to treat of Ci- cindela tranquebarica Hbst. (C. vnlgaris Say), makes some mention of the extraordinary range of variation exhibited. Nor need we wonder at this variation, when we consider for a moment the vast extent of country inhabited by tranquebarica in some of its many forms. From the low- lands of the Gulf States, Mississippi, Georgia and Louisi- ana, it reaches northward through the Carolinas to Up- per Canada and the maritime provinces. It occupies prac- tically the entire region drained by the Mississippi River and its tributaries, from the Alleghenies to the Rocky Mountains, extending far into the British possessions of Manitoba and Alberta. On the great interior plateau between the Wasatch and the Sierra Nevada, it runs and flies along the scanty streams, or hunts its prey on the bitter flats of the alkaline lakes. To the south the Rio Grande basin is also invaded, and the western outposts, split more or less into beautiful local races, occupy the vales and mountains of the Pacific Coast. In spite of the differences in size, color and hairiness ex- hibited by specimens from different parts of the country, it is no easy matter to settle upon characters whereby the races may be accurately defined. In some districts a form may occur which, within a limited area, seems to be definable by features of constancy and apparent importance — and we are tempted into describing it as a new race or subspecies. But in another locality, we find these characters utterly unstable and consequently have to abandon them as bases of subspecific separation, unless we make the citation of a locality label the most important part of our diagnosis. The separation of the species into " varieties " by Mr. Leng, in his recent " revision " is to my mind, open to certain ob- jections. Some of the characters used are shown by sufficient material to be entirely ephemeral and not confined to speci- mens from any special district. In one case, I believe, he has 44 ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. [Feb., '06 been misled by wrong interpretation of the meaning of an earlier writer. I am also at loss to understand why he sinks tranquebarica Hbst. as a synonym, giving precedence to the much later name vulgaris Say. If we are satisfied that the name tranquebarica was applied by Herbst to this species, the fact of the habitat being wrongly attributed is, under present laws of nomenclature, no valid excuse for its rejection. It is not my intention to propose new names for any of the numerous local forms, readily enough separable by an ex- perienced eye, though possessing no positive definitive char- acters ; but rather to call attention to some of the districts over which these imperfectly differentiated forms are distri- buted and the manner in which they again subdivide and inter- grade. In general it may be said that the following rules hold good with the aggregate known as C. tranquebarica (or vulgaris} and its varieties, race or subspecies. Exceptions oc- cur, of course. 1 . The specimens from the extreme southeastern portion of the range are small and nearly dead blackish, with scarcely any trace of cupreous on the upper side. A series from North Car- olina (given me by Mr. Edw. D. Harris) and from Mississippi, runs only about .50 inch in length. The markings in this form are narrow, the humeral lunule shorter and more transverse than usual. 2. In the upper Mississippi valley, the Middle States, New England and Canada, occurs a larger form, with the upper surface obscurely bronzed or nearly black, the markings broader and better developed, the humeral lunule longer and less transverse. In size the average is about .60 inch. This is presumably the type described as vulgaris by Say, and is so called by Mr. Leng. 3. In the more northerly portion of this range, is found occasionally a form more bronzed and a little hairier, called by Mr. Leng, C. horiconensis. This name, I think unnecessary, the abberation being illy defined and not a geographical race in the true sense of the word, occurring side by side with the blackish specimens. It also passes insensibly into the next, and I should follow Dr.W. Horn in relegating it to synonomy. Feb., '06] ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. 45 4. In the arid and semi-arid regions of the middle west, from New Mexico through Colorado, eastern Montana, Kan- sas, Nebraska, Dakota, Manitoba, Assiniboia and Alberta, we find a better marked race of (usually) rather distinctly metal- lic tipper surface, with broad markings, the humeral lunule complete and the middle band frequently expanded on the margin. This is obliquata Kirby, and is so recognized by Mr. Leng. It is, however, not very well differentiated, a great number of the specimens being about equally well referable to obliqnata or to horiconensis . Others run into vibex. Dr. Horn sinks it as a synonym, and I am disposed to agree with him in this course, recognizing, however, that obliquata is much more worthy of being retained than is horiconensis. The ex- treme specimens are very different-looking from the eastern tranquebarica. 5. In specimens from the western edge of the ordinary range of the above form, we find a well-marked tendency to partial obliteration of the humeral lunule. As a rule, this is accompanied by a preponderance of the greenish cast in the coloring of the upper surface, until in some portions of the Pacific district and the adjacent interior basin the coppery color is almost entirely replaced by a brilliant green. These green forms have thus been classified by Mr. Leng, in his Revision : Bright green, humeral lunule broken . . vibex Horn. Brilliant blue-green, humeral lunule lacking . sierra Leng. Dull green, humeral lunule broken . . rogitensis Harris. All of these forms are well represented in the material be- fore me, but I do not agree with Mr. Leng in his assignment of names. The types of Mr. Harris' C. roguensis were from a locality distant but fifty or sixty miles from that of the type of vibex and some specimens of the first named (in my collection) from the Rogue River might well be called rather bright green, though in general they are somewhat dull. I think the name roguensis should sink as a true synonym of rv7v .1 , the distinc- tion being merely the evanescent one of depth or brilliance in color. In fact, so I am told by Dr. Walther Horn, the type of vibex is not of the brilliant green of the San Bernardino Co, 46 ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. [Feb., '06 (California) specimens, which have been doing duty as vibex, but of a duller shade. He writes me of an interesting fact in this connection, of which I was altogether ignorant, namely, that in southern California vibex is dimorphic, apparently ac- cording to season. He says that the bright green form occurs from May to October, the dull form in April. The explana- tion, he suggests, maybe sought in the effects of the winter rains upon the development of the early spring form. It is worth mentioning that the bright southern Californian speci- mens are much more brilliant than any of those from Oregon. C. sierra L,eng, the remaining described green form, occur- ring in the Sierra Nevada, may stand for the time as a fairly well-marked subspecies. It is a mountain race with much reduced markings, but this feature in itself is of little value, as will appear shortly. Several weeks ago, I received from Mr. Knaus a pair of a bright green species of Cicindela taken near L,as Vegas, Ne- vada, by Mr. Tom Spalding. They were of rather smaller size than the average vibex (measuring .52 inch), with short humeral lunule, middle band minus the deflexed portion, apical lunule complete. Misled by the general appearance, I at first took them for representatives of a new form of the repanda group, but subsequent examination of the labrum and vesti- ture showed them to belong to the tranquebarica series. A request for more specimens brought two others from Mr. Kiiaus and two from Mr. Spaldiug, the six representing his whole catch. The remarkable feature of this little collection is that no two of the individuals are alike, but they exhibit among themselves various modifications of pattern from full development to almost the reduced style of sierra. The figures annexed will show the gradation. With only 4, 5 and 6, at hand, I should probably have separated a new "race" to be characterized by the small size and the loss of the tip of the humeral lunule (a rare feature in the tranquebarica aggregate) but the examination of the others induced me to refrain from adding another name. I consider these specimens as belonging to a plastic local race, closely related to the brilliant southern Californian vibex (aut. post.*), showing the intimate relations Feb., '06] ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. 47 of the green races and their probable late development. It will be noticed by those who have plenty of material, that the bright green San Bernardino specimens tend to complete mark- ings, without the interruption of the humeral lunule that should really 9 characterize vibex. The discovery of a variable green form in the Great Basin is of much interest, the remark- able influence upon the beetles colo- nized within its limits having already been touched upon elsewhere. The small lakes, now rapidly drying up, evidently obtained their littoral faunae from some common source, as I have shown.* Minor modifications of color and pattern, resulting in the formation of more or less important local races are commonly noticed among the faunae of the various lake shores and Cicindela tranquebarica is, in this respect, no exception. The type of this species found most abundantly in the Great Basin is the form obliquata in some of its manifestations —that is to say, a rather widely marked insect of large size, more or less metallic above. There is, however, in Utah specimens, a strong tendency to disappearance of the sub-basal portion of the humeral lunule and the marginal part of the median band, producing an elytral pattern like that of typical vibex. Several of my specimens from Provo are almost identical in this respect with others from British Columbia, sent me by Mr. Harris. At Great Salt Lake, Sevier Lake and Humboldt Lake, there seems to be a larger proportion of blackish, almost non-metallic specimens (the ground color of the upper surface being referred to) with moderately wide complete patterns, while at Bridgeport, California (still within the Basin), occurs a form almost dead black above, fully and widely marked, very different in appearance from those of the more eastern portions of the Basin. I have not seen C. plutonica Casey, which is classed by Dr. * American Naturalist, Sept., 1904. Report Entom. Soc. Ontario, 1904. 48 ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. [Feb., '06 W. Horn as a subspecies of tranquebarica. It is described from Placer Co., California, and is reported by Mr. Leng as occuring also in Oregon. Accepting Dr. Horn's dictum in regard to the position of this form, my suggested arrangement of the tranquebarica series would be as follows : Cicindela tranquebarica Herbst. Syn. — vulgaris Say, obliqiiata Dej., Kby., kirbyi Lee., horiconensis Leng. Subsp. — mbex Horn. Syn. — roguensis Harris. Aber. — vibex aut. post. Subsp. — sierra Leng. Subsp. — plutonica Casey. From what has been written concerning the various geogra- phical races and local forms, it will be noticed at once that the species as a whole is more homogeneous in the northern parts of the range, while to the south it tends to split into many imperfectly differentiated assemblages of less than specific value. A nice problem is offered to some student who will undertake to work out the details of probable origin and dif- fusion of the many types of Cicindela in North America. A New Tabanus Related to punctifer. BY D. W. COQUILLETT. Tabanus subniger n. sp. — Near punctifer but larger, base of front tibia? not whitish, abdomen with while hairs along the sides and apex, etc. Black, with a tinge of 'brown, the mesonotum and scutellum brownish yellow, gray pruinose and covered with white hairs ; elsewhere the hairs are chiefly black except along the sides and apex of the abdomen wheie there are many white ones which become more numerous posteriorly ; front calypteres also fringed with while hairs. Front very bread above the subcallus with parallel sides, this portion being about two and a half times as long as wide, subcallus opaque, grayish pruinose, callus pol- ished, transversely oval and with an indistinct, linear prolongation above. Eyes bare. Wings gray; costal cell and stigma pale brown, a brown cloud at base of second stibmarginal and of the posterior cells. Length, 25 mm. Lake Forest, Illinois. A female collected March 27, 1904, by Dr. J. G. Needham. Type No. 8301, U. S. Nat. Mus. Feb., '06] ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. 49 Professor Berlese's Apparatus For Collecting Small Arthropods Rapidly and in Great Quantities. BY L. O. HOWARD. While visiting the laboratory of Professor Antonio Berlese in Florence in June last, I was greatly interested in an appar- atus which he has prepared for collecting small insects and other arthropods very rapidly and in very great numbers, and which it seemed to me obviated in large measure the la- borious process known to entomologists as "sifting." He showed me the apparatus practically in operation, and showed me further large numbers of vials filled with Thysanura, My- riapoda, Acarina and the like, which in number and variety afforded a perfect revelation to me. Since returning to this country I have had one of the smaller styles of the apparatus made, and have tested it during the month of December with leaves and rubbish collected on the grounds of the Depart- ment of Agriculture and with very considerable success ; so much so, in fact, that I wish to bring the apparatus to the at- tention of English-speaking entomologists. No doubt had I used leaves or top soil of old and long undisturbed wooded regions the results achieved would have been vastly greater than they have with the material tested ; but even this, as just stated, has been very satisfactory. Professor Berlese's description and statement concerning results was published in Redia, vol. II, No. i, shortly after my visit, and his article, very freely translated, is as follows : Within this last year I have devised an apparatus which is very simple and very effective, with which I collect in great numbers and without fatigue, the small Arthropods as well as insects of all the following orders : Myriapoda, Symphyla, Pauropoda, Chelifera and Arachnida, and especially Acarida however small, without any danger of being able to escape. Of the Collembola, which are so difficult to collect because they spring, I have taken a very great number. All those living creatures which are found to be present in the mosses, among the dead leaves under the trees, in decay- ing wood, in humus, in decomposing substances, etc., are col- ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. [Feb., '06 lected in a tube containing alcohol, which is attached to the apparatus under discussion, and on the part of the naturalist there is no further trouble than to separate them and study them. The apparatus consists of a large funnel which slides into a glass tube containing alchohol and this funnel is sur- surrounded by water heated to 60° to 100°. On top of the funnel there is placed a sort of square tray of metallic net- work (a sieve) upon which is placed the material to be ex- amined, and this material should naturally be sufficiently humid to restrain the living insects from escaping. Whether FIG. i.— Apparatus for direct heating;: A, exterior receptacle containing water; />', interior funnel; C, vessel having the bottom of metallic net work; D, suhstumv l.n ex animation ; /•.'.funnel for introducing- the water ; /".small glass tube containing alcohol, where the insects are collected, this being connected to the apex of the funnel by :\ slim t tube (at of India rubber ; G, feet supporting the apparatus ; /., lamp for heating ; J/, India rubber tube for carrying off the gas ; A", faucet for discharge. the material in the tray, passing gradually (although rapidly enough) through and losing some of its moisture causes the insects to fall to the bottom, or whether these are attracted by the heat beneath, it is certain that they all try to reach the metallic net and there they pass through, falling into the metallic funnel. Feb., '06] ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. But the walls of the funnel, thanks to the water surround- ing them, are so warm that the insects cannot remain, and they fall, rolling downward until they enter the tube contain- ing alcohol, in which only a very small quantity of detritus is collected. It is necessary, however, not to shake or stir the apparatus or the material during this operation, to avoid the falling of too much detritus together with the insects. FIG. 2. — Apparatus for indirect heating by means of the boiler */>) : In the figure at the right we see the manner of inserting the glass tube containing the alcohol into the ;i|»-\ of the funnel, that is by means of a ring or vei v .•.//m ! //>/>/• ,>/' India > ubbi-> (