340 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY 



prairie about stunted oaks. In their flight they so precisely re 

 sembled moths as to deceive him. In reply to a question Mr. 

 Schwarz said that he had found, in Arizona, the larvaB of two 

 species of LycidaB (Lycus and Lycostomus) congregating in large 

 numbers under bark. When young, he thinks that they feed 

 underground on snails. 



By invitation, Mr. Uhler spoke of the progress of his work 

 upon the Capsidae, stating that the forms have been coming in 

 rapidly from the southwest, and from Mexico and South America, 

 and that he is beginning to find that many of our forms have a 

 much more southern origin than has hitherto been supposed. He 

 gave several examples, mentioning, among other things, a species 

 from Argentina, which is identical with a North American form 

 which extends into Maryland. Extensive collections from below 

 the Amazon have come into his hands, and he welcomed the ex 

 pedition now being made by Messrs. Smith and Baker to Colum 

 bia and Venezuela, since it is intervening territory. He further 

 complimented the Colorado collections of Mr. C. F. Baker in 

 the highest terms. 



Mr. Schwarz showed a bundle of bear-grass (Nolina) leaves 

 which he stated makes the best fly flap known ; it not only kills 

 the flies but cuts off their heads, legs, and wings. 



Mr. Howard read a paper entitled "An Insect Breeding in 

 Petroleum," showing that an Ephydrid fly, described by Mr. 

 Coquillet, in connection with this paper, as Psilopa petrolei, 

 breeds in large numbers in crude petroleum pools in the neigh 

 borhood of oil wells, near Los Angeles, Cal.* In discussing this 

 paper, Mr. Marlatt suggested that crude petroleum may not have 

 the same insecticidal qualities as the refined petroleum products 

 on account of the presence of a greater quantity of parafline giving 

 it a fatty nature ; the idea was suggested to him by the fact that 

 maggots will live without difficulty in very fat pork, for example. 

 Mr. Schwarz suggested that as the pools in question are acci 

 dental, the result of establishing oil wells, this habit of living in 

 pools may be a recently acquired one. 



Mr. Schwarz continued his paper of the previous meeting 

 on " Southern Arizona and its Insect Fauna." He spoke espe- 



* Published in full in Scientific American, February 4, 1899, pp. 75 -76, 

 Vol. LXXX, No. 5. 



