Vol. XXlii] ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. 327 



under the code, but my point is that the whole of that list is absolutely 

 invalid so far as the date 1800 is concerned, and 1800 cannot be a date 

 that gives precedence. 



Some of the laws of the code lack definiteness and I am glad to think 

 that the subject is to be brought before the Oxford Congress, for we 

 must remember that the number of species entomologists have to deal 

 with is much greater than that of all the other branches of Zoology com- 

 bined, and I trust that one of the results of that congress will be the 

 establishment of an Entomological Council for nomenclature, who 

 should carefully revise the present code and bring it up to present needs 

 so far as we are concerned, after which the International Commission 

 should be approached so as to try and bring the two bodies into some 

 working agreement with the object of bringing out an amended code 

 binding on all zoologists who are not a "law unto themselves." G. T. 

 BETHUNE-BAKER, Edgbaston, England. 



AMERICANS AT THE INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF ENTOMOLOGY. In 

 addition to those mentioned on page i/S of the April NEWS, we are 

 informed that the following will attend the meeting at Oxford, August 

 5-10, 1912; Prof. S. A. Forbes, Urbana, Illinois; Dr. C. Gordon Hewitt. 

 Dominion Entomologist, Ottawa; Dr. A. Fenyes, Pasadena, California; 

 Mr. Charles T. Ramsden, Guantanamo, Cuba; Prof. G. C. Cramp- 

 ton, Amherst, Massachusetts; Dr. L. O. Howard, Washington; Prof. 

 W. M. Wheeler, Harvard University; and Prof. J. G. Needham, Cornell 

 University. 



FOOD PLANT OF DYSDERCUS MIMUS Say. The genus Dysdcrcus is 

 well known for its attacks on cotton and ether malvaceous plants, but 

 although D. mini us is widely distributed, I do not find any reference 

 to its food plant in the literature I have examined, including Mr. Bal- 

 lou's apparently complete review of the subject in the West Indian 

 Bulletin, 1906. It may therefore be worth while to report that in Feb- 

 ruary of this year my wife found both young and adults of D. iniiints 

 at Gualan, Guatemala, living on Iresinc paniculata (L.)'. one of the 

 Amaranthaceae. The insects were kindly determined by Dr. Van 

 Duzoe, and the plant by Captain Donnell Smith. T. D. A. COCKERELL, 

 Boulder, Colo. 



ENTOMOLOGICAL INVESTIGATION OF OKFFENOKEE SWAMP. A party 

 left Cornell University, May 25th, for the purpose of investi- 

 gating the biology of the Okefenokee Swamp in southeastern Georgia. 

 The fauna and flora of this extensive and in many respects unique 

 swamp have heretofore almost entirely escaped the attention of natur- 

 alists. The eastern part of the swamp consists of vast inundated 

 "prairies," while on the western side there are extensive heavily 



