OF WASHINGTON. 183 







Vienna, Mr. E. T. Atkinson of Calcutta, and Messrs. Hubbard 

 and Schwarz from Florida. He said that the group is still in a con 

 fused condition, and that many of the forms were undoubtedly 

 Toryminae and Pteromalinae, and either parasitic or inquilinous 

 in figs. The true fig-insects are comparatively few in number. 



/Ox NOVEMBER i, 1894. 



President Ashmead occupied the chair, and Messrs. Schwarz, 

 Chittenden, Heidemann, Hubbard, Linell, Patten, Waite, Ben- 

 ton, Marlatt, Stiles, Gill, Riley, Fernow, and Howard were 

 also present. 



Mr. H. G. Barber, of the University of Nebraska, was elected 

 a corresponding member. 



Dr. Gill presented a paper on a remarkable new family of 

 crabs. He stated that he thought himself justified in presenting 

 this paper before an entomological society, since, in his opinion, 

 the Crustacea are more closely related to the Insecta than are the 

 Arachnida. He exhibited plates and descriptions of Archeoplax 

 notopus, new genus and species, described by Alcock and Ander 

 son in the Natural-history Notes of the Investigator. This remark 

 able new crab was taken taken off the coast of Coromandel at a 

 depth of 1 50 to 200 fathoms. Dr. Gill pointed out several extra 

 ordinary features which, in his opinion, justified the erection of a 

 new family for the form. He proposed the new generic name 

 Retropluma, on account of the preoccupation of Archeoplax,- 

 and the new family Retroplumidas. 



The paper was discussed by Messrs. Howard, Riley, and Hub 

 bard. Mr. Howard stated that he had voted against the recep 

 tion of the paper by the program committee on the ground that, 

 however loose the definition of the word "entomology" may be, it 

 was generally understood to refer to the class Insecta, and that 

 the scope of this class is so enormous that the tendency of the 

 Society should be to contract rather than to expand in the range 

 of topics considered at its meetings. The admission of papers 

 on Arachnida had been, from the beginning, largely a matter of 

 courtesy and precedent. Dr. Gill argued that entomology should 



