64 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY 
material is very cheap, costing only 8 cents per pound wholesale, 
and much purer than the naphthaline cones now in market. 
When broken up into small pieces, and wrapped in thin paper, 
it can most conveniently be used in insect boxes. 
Dr. Marx read some abstracts from his work on North Ameri- 
can Scorpionidas which he intends to publish. He gave an his- 
torical review of the various systems of classification proposed by 
different authors for these Arthropods. The system of the older 
authors, such as DeGeer, Leach, and Koch, was based upon the 
number of eyes, but the more recent investigations by Peters, 
Thorell, and Karsch showed that this character is without any 
systematic value. The North American Scorpionidae have been 
monographed but once, viz., by Dr. Wood in the yottrnal of the 
Philadelphia Academy for 1874, where 13 species are enum- 
erated. Wood sjtill follows the old classification, and, conse- 
quently, described all but two of his species as Buthus. Dr. 
Marx had the opportunity to examine the types of Wood pre- 
served in the U. S. National Museum, and, following the more 
recent classification, he finds that not one of Wood's species is 
a Buthus. The type of Wood's Scorpio Allenii, as well as two 
of the other species described by Wood, cannot be found and 
appear to be lost. 
JANUARY 6, 1887. 
Twelve persons present. President Howard in the chair. 
Mr. J. H. Kuehling, of Washington, D. C., was elected a 
member of the Society. 
The election of officers for the year 1887 then took place, and 
resulted in the re-election of the old board of officers. 
The Treasurer and the Secretaries presented their annual re- 
ports. 
The President then read his annual address. After congratu- 
lating the Society upon its progress during the year and recom- 
mending certain matters of policy connected with the conduct of 
meetings, with the character of papers, with the membership, and 
with the business of the Society, he proceeded with the subject 
proper of his address : 
