434 P:NTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY 



sons who are fond of old cheese, and Mr. Howard said that 

 Piophila larvae had been voided in living condition in the excre 

 ment of such persons. 



Mr. Pratt added that in the course of the work above men 

 tioned he had captured Piophila upon human excrement. 



The second note presented by Mr. Howard referred to the deter 

 mination of certain insects which have been sent him from Ham 

 burg and which have been taken in American fruit barrels. He 

 read a long list of species collected under these conditions in 

 Germany and sent to his office for determination. He showed 

 that a majority of the forms were cosmopolitan, occurring both in 

 Europe and America. Others were European species which 

 had been attracted to the fruit after landing, while a comparatively 

 insignificant portion were American insects. Almost none of 

 these, however, were of an injurious character, many being 

 distinctly beneficial predatory species, while there was prac 

 tically nothing which offered the slightest danger to German 

 agriculture. He went somewhat into detail as to these matters 

 and showed that while any alarm which might be felt in Germany 

 was poorly founded, the sendings indicated the desirability of the 

 shipment of American fruit in cleaner condition and the need 

 of better packing. 



The paper was discussed at length by Dr. Stiles, who re 

 viewed the commercial relations between Germany and the 

 United States in detail. 



MARCH 8, 1900. 



The 1 50th regular meeting was held at the residence of Mr. 

 C. L. Pollard, 1854 Fifth street N.W. Present: Messrs. Ash- 

 mead, Pollard, Benton, Caudell, Currie, Morris, Kotinsky, Cha- 

 pin, and Howard, active members ; Lugger, corresponding mem 

 ber, and Collins and Maxon, visitors. In the absence of the 

 President and Vice-President, Mr. Ashmead was made chairman. 



On motion, the Wisconsin Natural History Society was placed 

 on the exchange list, and Prof. W. P. Hay, of Howard Univer 

 sity, was elected an active member. 



Under the head of Short Notes and Exhibition of Specimens, 



