OF WASHINGTON. 147 



Mr. Schwarz also exhibited specimens of the Staphylinid 

 Oxyporus 5-punciatus, and called attention to the remarkable 

 secondary sexual characters presented by the male. In this sex 

 the right mandible is greatly enlarged and deformed at apex, and 

 the upper margin of the posterior thoracic angles is sharply turned 

 upward and forms a kind of flap which overhangs a deep excava 

 tion at the angle itself. Nothing similar to these characters is 

 seen in any other species of Oxyporus in our fauna. The abdo 

 men has no pubescent spot, and the left mandible in both sexes is 

 armed with a small tooth a little before the middle. In the female 

 the right mandible is simple, and the peculiar excavation of 

 the thoracic angles is merely indicated. 



Dr. Gill asked concerning the relative size in the different 

 sexes among insects. Mr. Ashmead replied that, as a rule among 

 the Hymenoptera, the female is larger than the male, but in the 

 Australian genus Thynnus the male is much larger than the 

 female. Mr. Schwarz stated that among Coleoptera, with com 

 paratively few exceptions, mentioning the Lucanidye and certain 

 Rhynchophora, the female was the larger, and Mr. Linell re 

 marked that in those species of Scarabeidae the males of which 

 are furnished with horn-like processes on the head or thorax 

 this sex is larger than the female, whereas among those species 

 the males of which do not possess such processes the female is 

 the larger of the two. Dr. Gill stated that probably the greatest 

 disparity between the sexes occurred in the fur seal, the males of 

 which weighed from seven to eight hundred pounds, whereas the 

 weight of the female did not exceed one hundred and fifty pounds. 



MAY 3, 1894. 



President Ashmead in the chair, and resident members Ben- 

 ton, Chittenden, Coquillett, Fernow, Gill, Heidemann, Howard, 

 Linell, Marlatt, Riley, Schwarz, Stiles, and Test also present. 

 The following corresponding members were also present : Prof. 

 P. R. Uhler, Dr. John Hamilton, Prof. A. D. Hopkins, and 

 Mr. H. G. Hubbard. 



The following were elected Corresponding members : Rev. 



