MARCH 19, 1921 proceedings: entomological society 143 



332nd meeting 

 The 332nd meeting was held at the Cosmos Club, June 4, 1920, with 

 Vice-President A. B. Gahan in the chair and 22 members and 5 visitors pres- 

 ent. 



Corresponding Secretary-Treasurer S. A. Rohwer reported on the final 

 settlement of the will of the late Frederick Knab, under the terms of which 

 the Society was the residuary legatee. By this the Society adds some $1400 

 to its publication fund. Mr. Rohwer also read a letter from two members 

 of the Zoologische und Botanische Gesellschaft of Vienna, explaining the 

 difficulty they were having in securing food and offering to exchange portions 

 of their valuable collection of cavern insects for food parcels. x-\fter some 

 discussion the Society authorized the Treasurer to solicit subscriptions, leaving 

 the selection of the insects in the exchange to the owners. 



Dr. Adam Boving announced the death from blood-poisoning of Dr. F. 

 KoLPiN Ravn of Copenhagen at East Orange, N. J., on May 25th. 



Notes and exhibition of specimens 



Under the title of Tlie introduction of a serious pest, Mr. J. A. Hyslop an- 

 nounced the finding of the injurious wire worm, Agriotes lincatits L-, in the 

 United States. A large shipment of potatoes from Copenhagen, consigned 

 to New York City, was inspected by Port Inspector D. G. Tower on February 

 2, 1920, and a wire worm was found in one of the tubers. For other reasons 

 than the insect pest, these potatoes were confined to local consumption so 

 the danger of this insect being established by this shipment is very slight. 

 Agriotes lineatns is probably one of the most troublesome pests to field grown 

 crops in Europe, especially sugar beets, potatoes, carrots, and all the small 

 grains. It is distributed throughout northern Europe and the British Isles, 

 and it seems remarkable that it has not become established in this country 

 through the large importations of potatoes which we annually receive from 

 Europe. 



Mr. E. A. Schwarz stated that he had recently received alive what was 

 probably the larva of this species in soil around rose bushes from Europe. 



Mr. Rohwer presented a note by William H. Fox, a former member, 



recording the occurrence of the spider Lathrodectes mactans Fabr. in northern 



Xew Hampshire. Dr. Fox's note is as follows: 



"In July, 1918, I was sitting reading on the upper porch of my cottage at Twin Lakes 

 (Little Sunapee), New Hampshire, when I noticed, just outside the wire screening which 

 protected all the opening of the porch, a female Lathrodectes mactans, very busily making 

 a web. I moved up until I was less than 18 inches from the spider and watched her for 

 some time at her work. The web was very irregular, of many crossed threads, but not at 

 all thick. In size I should judge it to be roughly, 4 ft. by 5 or 6 ft. Unfortunately, the 

 ])orches were so well screened it was impossible to procure the spider, but as I watched her 

 for some fifteen minutes at close range there could be no mistake in the identification. The 

 web remained in situ for some time, but although I watched a good many times, I failed 

 to again see the spider. This is the only adult L. mactans that I have ever seen in New 

 Hampshire, but I have procured the young from the mud nests of a species of Sphex, in 

 southern New Hampshire (Hollis)." 



Mr. C. H. Richardson reviewed two recently published papers by Dr. 

 August Krogh of the University of Copenhagen on the physiology of respira- 

 tion in insects (Pfliigers Arch. Gedamte Physiol. 95-112, 179. 1920), which 

 are of interest to students of insect physiolog}' and to those engaged in studies 

 on gaseous insecticides. The conclusions reached by this author are : that gas 

 difi"usion is often the only method by which the tracheal air of insects is re- 

 newed; that in some forms such as very active adult insects or those having 



