272 proceedings: biological society 



W. P. Taylor: Notes on Aplodojitia. Dr. Taylor said the peculiar 

 west American rodent Aplodontia, ■ discovered by Lewis and Clark, 

 is the sole living representative of the family Aplodontiidae. It is 

 exclusively North American in origin, development, and distribution. 

 Found in Tertiary times in the Great Basin region and even as far 

 east as South Dakota, the family is now limited to the Pacific Slope 

 of North America. Aplodontia is colonial and fossorial, feeding ex- 

 clusively on the vegetation in the vicinity of its burrows. The aplo- 

 dontid phylum is noteworthy for its extreme conservation. During 

 a lapse of time which sufficed to transform the horse from the Miocene 

 Mnychippus type to the larger Pliocene Pliohippus, there appears 

 to have been no appreciable change in the tertiary species Aplodontia 

 alexandrae; and during the time when the Merychippus type of horse 

 became transformed into the modern Equus with modifications in 

 every bone in the body and characters generically probably twice' 

 removed, the aplodontid stock has undergone comparatively little 

 change, all observed variations, as at present recognized, falling within 

 the limits of a single genus. 



Dr. Taylor's communication was discussed by Messrs. T. E. Wil- 

 cox, N; Dearborn, A. Wetmore, L. 0. Howard, N. Hollister, 

 and R. W. Shufeldt. 



W. Dwight Pierce: The extaordinary strepsipterous type of par- 

 asitism. Mr. Pierce spoke of the extraordinary type of parasitism 

 displayed by the insect order Strepsiptera. He called attention to 

 the great diversity in form between the male and female Strepsiptera. 

 All species of this order are parasites in the bodies of bees, ants, wasps, 

 leafhoppers, and grasshoppers. The only part of the body which can 

 be seen when in the host is the cephalothorax which protrudes 

 between the segments of the host abdomen. The females are legless 

 and blind, and have no appendages except mandibles, which are of no 

 value after the cephalothorax has been protruded from the body. 

 They give birth to living young which emerge from the body of the 

 parent through a canal between her unshed larval skin, and the true 

 adult, reaching the body of the host through an opening between the 

 head and thorax of the parent. These young, in order to find their 

 next host, must be deposited on some flower visited by the species 

 which they parasitize. They are then carried by the nest-building 

 hosts to their nests and there find larvae to attack. Shortly after 

 entering the new hosts they lose their legs and become very degenerate 

 in appearance. The males have one pair of wings, the front pair being 

 reduced to tiny balancers. They are very active creatures with slender 

 legs, immense stalked eyes which look like raspberries, and degenerate 

 mouth parts. These insects are world wide in their distribution, but 

 very rare. Mr. Pierce's communication was discussed by Messrs. 

 L. 0. Howard, E. A. Goldman, and W. P. Hay. 



R. W. Shufeldt: Zoological statuary at the National Capital. Dr. 

 Shufeldt, after relating his experiences with the sculptor, John Rogers, 

 in 1872, and with others in the studios of New York City forty years 



