OF WASHINGTON. 261 



coxae, and the size of the anterior legs. Altogether I think 

 that it represents a group in many points intermediate between 

 the two families. 



Dr. Fox thought that Mr. Banks placed too much stress on 

 the importance of the long hairs occurring on the legs, and 

 stated that they were by no means confined to this species, 

 but occurred also in Thomisidae and L,ycosidse. 



Dr. Gill asked if the functional importance of these hairs is 

 known, to which Dr. Marx replied that by German writers 

 they are considered to be organs of hearing, or of service in 

 that regard, and referred to analogous growths of structures 

 which in the lower animals take the place in a measure of the 

 more complex organs of the higher animals. 



Dr. Gill and others discussed the organs of hearing and 

 sound in different animals, arriving at the conclusion that in 

 low animal life, as insect and arachnid, the sense of hearing is 

 analogous to but has a much more restricted range than in the 

 case of higher animals. 



Mr. Howard stated that the appearance of well-developed 

 sound organs in many insects argues that the organs of hearing 

 are also well developed. 



Mr. Chittenden presented the following paper for publi 

 cation : 



NOTES ON THE FOOD HABITS OF SOME SPECIES 

 OF CHRYSOMELID^E. 



BY FRANK H. CHITTENDEN. 



The food habits of the adult beetles of the Chrysomelidae 

 are well known as compared with those of many other families 

 of Coleoptera. This is due to various causes. Their attractive 

 appearance, often bright colored and conspicuous, the fact of 

 their being more than usually gregarious and numerous as a 

 rule in individuals, and the further fact of their being diurnal, 

 feeding externally and exposed on leaves and flowers, all con 

 tribute to this end. Then the omnivorous nature of so many 

 species, that leads them in time of scarcity of their wild food 

 plants to depredate on useful and familiar plants, has, more 

 than anything else, conduced to an intimate knowledge of their 

 food habits. Thus they are constantly intruding on the notice 

 of the agriculturist, the official entomologist and the student of 

 nature, and as a result a very large proportion of the best 

 known species have at some time been reported as injurious to 



