88 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY 



Mr. Schwarz said that Tachys inciirvus was first found 

 among Formica exsedoides by Mr. Blanchard at Lowell, Mass., 

 and afterward among the same ant by Mr. Beutenmiiller, near 

 New York. The occurrence of the beetle in large number 

 among ants at three different localities leaves no doubt that it 

 is a true myrmecophilous species. In reply to a question by 

 Mr. Howard, Mr. Schwarz said that no observations on the 

 relationship of this Tachys to the ants had been made so far, 

 and it was not known whether or not it fed on the eggs or 

 young larvae of the ants. 



Mr. Ulke exhibited also a collection of Coleoptera made the 

 present year by his son, Mr. Titus Ulke, in the Black Hills 

 district of South Dakota. He said that the insect fauna of 

 this region generally resembled that of Nebraska, but with a 

 greater admixture of boreal forms. He remarked on the 

 value of local collections of this sort to enable us to form 

 correct ideas of geographical distribution. 



Dr. Marx stated that of nine spiders received from Mr. T. 

 Ulke, from the Black Hills, four were known and five were 

 new species. 



Mr. Schwarz said that he was glad to learn that Mr. Titus 

 Ulke was collecting material toward a general catalogue of the 

 insects of the Black Hills region of South Dakota. The only 

 catalogue of insects of all orders that has hitherto been pub 

 lished in this country was that by Prof. J. B. Smith on the 

 insects of New Jersey, but there were serious faults to be 

 found with this work. In order to be useful to the collector 

 as well as to entomological science, a catalogue should be 

 based upon actually collected material. In Mr. Smith's cata 

 logue, however, we find except in Coleoptera, Lepidoptera 

 and Orthoptera hundreds of species enumerated which have 

 never been collected in New Jersey. It appeared that, in the 

 absence of collections, Mr. Smith selected from general cata 

 logues and check-lists all such species which he thought 

 likely to occur in his State. As a consequence this portion of 

 the catalogue does not represent our actual knowledge of the 

 insect fauna of New Jersey and fails, therefore, to accomplish 

 the principal objects of a work of this character, viz : to form 



