34 ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. [Jan., '06 



STRATEGUS INJURING DATE-PALMS. Professor R. H. Forbes recently 

 sent me a fine male Strategus jii/ianus, which he reported as eating 

 roots of date palms in Arizona. I am indebted to Mr. Fall for assist- 

 ance in determining the species. In Alabama, .5". antams has been 

 reported to injure peach roots (cf. Bull. 22, Div. Ent. , Dep. Agr., p. 105. 

 -T. D. A. COCKERELL. 



THE DISTRIBUTION OF HELICONIUS CHARITONIUS LINN^US IN THE 

 UNITED STATES. That this distinctly tropical butterfly has a wider 

 range within the United States than has heretofore been assigned to 

 it by authors has come to the knowledge of the writer. One of his 

 valued correspondents, residing in Waco, Texas, informs him in a recent 

 letter that he has captured three specimens of the insect at the latter 

 place, and he is further informed by one of his assistants, who was long 

 resident in Kansas, that he himself has seen several specimens in the 

 possession of local collectors in Kansas, which were taken in the southern 

 part of that State. That these specimens taken in Kansas are individuals 

 which strayed northward is no doubt true, but that the insect occurs in 

 considerable numbers as far north as central Texas is proved by recent 

 observations. If occurring as far north as Kansas, it may also well 

 occur, and undoubtedly does occur, in Louisiana, and possibly also as a 

 straggler in Arkansas. --W. J. HOLLAND. 



INSECT GALLS. There has just come to hand a very useful and nicely- 

 illustrated paper on the "Insect galls of Indiana," written by Dr. M. T. 

 Cook (who is now in Cuba), and published by the Department of Geo- 

 logy and Natural Resources of Indiana. It is much to be hoped that 

 this paper will stimulate interest in this rather neglected subject, which 

 in Europe has such a large following that a journal is published, devoted 

 exclusively to it. While we must confess that galls have received 

 only a small fraction of the attention they deserve in this country, 

 we must protest against the idea prevalent in some quarters that nothing 

 has been done. On two different occasions, Dr. Bessey referred (in Sci- 

 ence) to Dr. Cook's papers as if they constituted practically the first lit- 

 erature on galls in America. Even Dr. Cook himself, although he 

 announces that he is working on a monograph of the insect-galls of North 

 America, states that Coccid galls have only been reported from Austra- 

 lia, whereas they are known from the United States, Ceylon, South 

 Africa, etc. 



I notice that Dr. Cook retains the name Pemphigus vagabundus Walsh, 

 for the gall on cottonwood usually known by this name. Oestlund 

 (Aphididse of Minnesota, 1887, p. 22) showed that this was not the true 

 vagabundus of Walsh, but did not propose a new name. I propose that 

 the P. vagabnndus of Oestlund, described in the place cited, be known 

 as Pemphigus cestlundi. It is found as far west as Colorado. Walsh's 

 species is probably unrecognizable. T. D. A. COCKERELL. 



