488 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY 



and then only for a short distance and very low. In the valleys 

 he found winged Tipulidae, but as he climbed the mountains their 

 place was taken by wingless forms, which he attributed to the 

 action of natural selection, the winged forms at high elevations 

 standing less chance to survive than those with aborted wings 

 and incapable of flight, bringing about the gradual disappearance 

 of the wings. He showed specimens illustrating several very 

 perfect cases of mimicry between Bombus and certain Diptera. 



Mr. Benton asked as to the occurrence of honey bees, and Mr. 

 Kincaid replied that he found only Bombus and one Andrena. 



Mr. Ashmead congratulated Mr. Kincaid on his admirable 

 work in Alaska. The Russians had previously studied the Cole- 

 optera of Alaska rather carefully, so that Mr. Kincaid had added 

 only five forms to the fauna, one of them being new to science. 

 In other orders, however, he had been highly successful. To the 

 Hymenoptera, of which about 25 species were previously known, 

 Mr. Kincaid had added about 75 species. In the Diptera he had 

 discovered more than 100 new species, according to Mr. Coquil- 

 lett. Mr. Ashmead anticipates, from the results of Mr. Kincaid's 

 work, that if a careful observer could be stationed in the country 

 through the whole season, the faunal list would be greatly 

 enlarged. 



Mr. Cook said that in the case mentioned by Mr. Kincaid the 

 high-wind argument was better than it is in Madeira and the 

 Canaries, concerning which it had been previously suggested by 

 authors. Dr. Gill referred to the abbreviation of wings and the 

 enlargement of feet of birds on small islands. In this case he 

 thought that it was, perhaps, a reflection of the small size of the 

 island, where short flights only were required. He also spoke 

 of the novelty of the shell fauna of the Madeira islands, which he 

 said afforded, together with other faunal features, a strong argu 

 ment against the existence of the continent of Atlantis. Mr. 

 Vaughan having spoken of corals common to Madeira and the 

 West Indies, the discussion drifted into a consideration of the 

 connection between the continents of Africa and South America 

 in geologic times. 



The next paper was by Mr. Howard and was entitled 

 " Economic Entomology in Canada." The speaker referred to a 

 recent visit to Ottawa and described the work being done under 



