244 THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



AFTERNOON MEETING. 



The club met pursuant to adjournment at i p.m , President Osborn in 

 the chair, twenty-two persons present. 



Mr. Hudson spoke 



ON ELECTRIC LIGHT COLLECTING AT PLATTSBURGH, N. Y. 



The season at Plattsburgh often opens in February with Homoglcea 



hircina and Xylina laticinerea. Many rarities occur in March. Moths 



will fly at a temperature of 36° Fahr. The first Bombycid to appear is 



Gluphisia lintiieri, early in April, Smerhithus cerisyi, Phragmatobia 



assimilans, Ellida gelida, Aiidela acrofiyctoides, Feralia Jocosa, F. tnajor, 



Afomaphana comstocid, Xy/otniges dolosa and many other extremely rare 



forms are to be obtained through such early collecting. The lamps give 



quarts of material which, though usually somewhat rubbed and torn, is of 



great value to the student for anatomical purposes, and, besides, furnishes 



material help in making out an important part of their life histories. 



Many orders are taken besides Lepidoptera. Many economic questions 



arise, such as the effects of this wholesale slaughter on the perfecting of 



fruits and seeds of plants depending to a great extent on night-flying 



insects for cross fertilization. Many insect allies, such as parasitic 



hymenoptera, aphis-eating insects, land and water scavengers, etc., are 



daily destroyed. What will be the effect of this new destructive force 



thrown on one side of a shifting balance already existing ? Mr. Hudson 



showed types of two new Ptilodonts, Gluphisia avimacula and Centra 



modesta, descriptions of which will soon appear. Much new material 



awaits any worker who will collect both early and late in the season. In 



nearly all genera of Lepidoptera, the males are much more frequently 



taken at the electric lights than the females. 



Mr. Osborn agreed that even poor material was often most valuable 

 for study purposes. 



Mr. Smith commended the practice of early collecting. Experience 

 has proved that some of the rarest forms in collections were scarce, only 

 because they had disappeared when collecting began. He has this spring 

 received from Mr. Dyar a lot of material collected at light in Manitou, 

 Colorado, containing some supposed rare forms in great numbers, and 

 some new species as well. The insects were nearly all poor, but valuable 

 for study for all that. 



