44 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY 



can be drawn in the recognition and definition of genera. The 

 genus is as natural an assemblage as a species, or even more 

 so. He believed that ultimately there will be substantial agree 

 ment as to what characters are of generic value. The genera 

 of Linnaeus, he stated, were in many cases very unnatural. 



Mr. Caudell remarked that in his studies of the Orthoptera 

 he had often been impressed by a fact pointed out by Mr. 

 Banks in his address, namely, that obvious and striking pecu 

 liarities are often of no generic value. Doctor Gill said that 

 among birds color or pattern is more or less uniform through 

 out the .species of certain genera and is therefore a useful 

 character in such cases. He called attention to the good work 

 done by Leach in the erection of genera and of Kirby in 

 creating families, in entomology. Kirby was the first to use 

 the termination -idse for families in entomology. 



Doctor Ashmead believed that there are genera which may 

 rightly be called natural. He agreed with Mr. Banks that 

 minute or inconspicuous characters are often more stable and 

 of more value in defining genera than conspicuous or striking 

 ones. He believed, however, that there are good generic 

 characters in the genitalia. The arrangement of the spiracles, 

 also, furnishes a good character. He thought that in very 

 many cases the subdivision of existing genera is not only 

 justifiable but desirable and necessary, and that much of the 

 work now being done in erecting new genera is entirely sound. 



Doctor asked the question, "What is a natural group?" 

 The farther removed from a species a group is, the more 

 difficult is its definition and limitation. For instance, the 

 Coleoptera with the Stylopidse removed form a natural group ; 

 with them, the order is unnatural. Mr. Banks stated that there 

 are no good characters which serve to define all the members 

 of any of the larger orders of insects, nor to separate and dis 

 tinguish them from members of other related orders. Doctor 

 Gill directed attention to the fact that parasitism obscures 

 natural group affinities, and that in classifying these forms 

 recourse should be had to embryological studies. Doctor Hop 

 kins stated that a knowledge of the life history and habits of 

 the species of a genus contributes greatly to a correct interpreta- 



