412 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY 



whereupon some discussion ensued between Messrs. Gill and 

 Ulke as to the meaning of the terms "rare" and "rarity." Ac 

 cording to Dr. Gill, these terms are comparative and depend 

 largely upon locality, presence of food, and periodicity. He 

 mentioned the curious history of Lepidosiren as an example and 

 Mr. Howard suggested that the history of Margarodes was a 

 parallel one. 



Mr. Howard mentioned finding Hippodamia convergcns 

 congregated together upon a chapparal bush near the top of 

 Mount Tamalpais near San Francisco Bay, on November i5th 

 last, many thousands of specimens being present, occurring three 

 or four deep over every twig and branch of the bush, stating that 

 this was the first time he had had the pleasure of observing this 

 congregating of Coccinellidas on mountain tops, although it had 

 been mentioned at a previous meeting of this Society by Mr. 

 Schwarz and at a meeting of the Biological Society by Mr. 

 C. D. Walcott. 



Mr. Ulke said that the clustering together of adult Coccinel- 

 lidae for hibernating purposes had been noticed by him in the 

 District of Columbia. 



Mr. Johnson said that he found Megilla maculata clustering 

 about the bases of apple trees infested with the San Jose scale in 

 Maryland so abundantly that he had them shovelled away with 

 the earth so that that they should not be killed when the trees 

 were sprayed. 



Mr. Johnson also said that he had noticed a migration of 

 Anosia plexippus in the streets of Frederick, Md., in late Sep 

 tember, in such extraordinary numbers that the colored inhabi 

 tants were excited, and came out with sticks and brooms, knocking 

 down the butterflies. The main street for a distance of ij miles 

 was full of butterflies. 



Mr. Ashmead said that he noticed this species in migratory 

 swarms in Jacksonville, Fla., the present month (December). 



Mr. Howard said that he had seen the same species the present 

 year, on August 27, starting its southward flight from the Catskill 

 Mountains in Greene county, N. Y., the date being an earlier one 

 than he had previously known. He said that possibly some of 

 the same individuals which he saw August 27 in New York may 

 have been those seen by Mr. Ashmead in December in Florida. 



