ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. 



PHILADELPHIA, PA., JANUVRY, 1919. 



The News for 1919. 



Whether the hopes for the betterment of Entomology ex- 

 pressed in our editorial for November last are any farther 

 toward realization may well be doubted. In one respect, affect- 

 ing the NEWS very strongly, it is certain that conditions are 

 worse than at any time in the past. We regret to say that in- 

 creased charges for labor within the last few months, unac- 

 companied by any decrease in other expenses, positively com- 

 pel us to reduce the number of pages which we are able to pub- 

 lish each month and to forego all illustrations in plate or text, 

 except where authors bear their cost. Even with these curtail- 

 ments we look forward to a considerable deficit at the end of 

 1919. We surely owe this statement of our outlook for the 

 new year to our many friends and contributors when they 

 open the pages of the present number and note its smaller size. 

 It is unnecessary to say that they can not regret this condi- 

 tion more than do the editors and committees of the NEWS. 

 Whenever financial matters improve, we shall respond at the 

 earliest possible moment by restoring this journal to its former 

 thickness. 



Bittacomorpha clavipes (Dipt.). 



On Sept. I, as I was crossing a road in Boulder, Colorado, I saw a 

 strange apparition. What seemed to be a series of black and white 

 specks, symmetrically arranged, was passing rapidly through the air. I 

 realized at once that I was looking at Bittacomorpha claripcs, which I 

 had never before met with in my years of collecting at Boulder. Having 

 no net, I could only knock it down with,my hat, breaking off the strange 

 and beautiful legs. This is not the first capture of B. claripcs in Colo- 

 rado, as Mr. C. P. Alexander informs me that Dr. F. H. Snow took it 

 in Alanitou Park, in August, years ago. The group is an ancient one, 

 now represented by comparatively few species, scattered over the earth. 

 A species of the same genus (/>'. niiocctiica Ckll., 1910) has been found 

 fossil in the miocene shales at Florissant. T. D. COCKF.RKLL, Boulder, 

 Colorado. 



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