OF WASHINGTON. 433 



stated that about 12,000 species of Ichneumonoids have been de 

 scribed. 



Dr. Gill called attention to the fact that not only here but in 

 Coleoptera the average seems to be about 10 species to the 

 genus, whereas in vertebrates it is much less ; in birds, for ex 

 ample, the average being about 4 species to the genus. 



Mr. Howard congratulated Mr. Ash mead upon the completion 

 of this monumental work and stated that Mr. Ash mead's labors, 

 not only in this superfamily, but in the whole order Hymenop- 

 tera, were of great importance and showed rare ability and that 

 they shed lustre not only on the Society, but upon American 

 entomology. 



Dr. Stiles said that in his opinion a work of this kind ought to 

 be accepted as a basis for a Doctor's Degree in any university. 



The second communication was by Mr. Howard and was 

 entitled " Miscellaneous Notes." The speaker presented certain 

 correspondence recently received which indicated the possibility 

 that a young larva of Gastrophilus equi had been voided with 

 the excrement of a I3~year-old boy in Illinois. He stated, how 

 ever, that the case was still under investigation and that he had 

 not yet arrived at a definite opinion as to the accuracy of the ob 

 servation. The case was an interesting one> since this CEstrid is 

 a stomach inhabitant of the horse and the genus is not mentioned 

 in the recorded cases of true internal myiasis. Some discussion 

 followed on the subject of myiasis and pseudo-parasitism, in 

 which Messrs. Stiles, Gill, Ashmead, Schwarz, Pratt, and 

 Howard took part. 



Mr. Howard having referred to the undoubted voiding of Droso- 

 phila larvae in the excrement of human beings, Mr. Schwarz stated 

 that owing to the abundance of these larvas in over-ripe fruit 

 almost every one must eat many of them in the course of a fruit 

 season. 



Mr. Pratt said that in the course of his work upon the insect 

 fauna of human excrement, which he had been carrying on for 

 Mr. Howard, he had reared Drosophila from the excrement and 

 that there was a possibility that the larvae had been originally 

 voided, although the flies themselves are attracted to the 

 excrement. 



Mr. Ashmead referred to the eating of cheese maggots by per- 



