182 ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. [May, '06 



PROF. BERLESE'S APPARATUS FOR COLLECTING ARTHROPODS. Prof 

 L. O. Howard's account of the Berlese apparatus -for collecting snia.l 

 arthropods (NT. NEWS, 1906, pp. 4953), reminds me of a simpler 

 method tried many years ago with great success by the late R. Lawson, 

 of Scarborough, England. Instead of the metal funnel to be warmed by 

 hot water, he used a similarly shaped suspended canvas bag, and drove 

 the insects downward by placing rags saturated with ammonia above the 

 material on the sieve. The result was the same, everything wanted fall- 

 ing into the tube of alcohol at the bottom. G. C. CHAMPION, Horsell, 

 Woking, England. 



Doings of Societies. 



A meeting of the Entomological Section of the Academy of 

 Natural Sciences of Philadephia was held Nov. 23, 1905, Mr. 

 H. W. Wenzel, Vice-Director, presiding. Sixteen persons 

 were present. The presentation of 3,167 specimens of Ichneu- 

 monoidea, including types, by Mr. G. C. Davis, was announced 

 by the conservator. Dr. Calvert exhibited a map showing local- 

 ities in Mexico from whence he had recently received Odonata. 

 Every collection showed interesting material in either species 

 new to Mexico and Central America or showing new distribu- 

 tion. Nephepdtia phryne, which has a curious spine on the 

 metasternum, was exhibited from Guatemala. Dr. Skinner 

 described dragon-fly collecting in the Huachuca Mts., So. 

 Arizona. Mr. Rehn spoke of the Orthoptera he had recently 

 received from Costa Rica and of a paper on the material. Two 

 thousand specimens, 300 species, were under observation, of 

 which 56 proved new. Mention was made of the various col- 

 lections examined for the report. Mr. Daecke said he had 

 found a nest of Vespa Carolina at Riverton, New Jersey. He 

 had taken both sexes and the workers and found V. Carolina 

 and V. cuneata to be the same species ; the female queens were 

 Carolina and the males and workers cuneata. The nest \vas 

 about twelve inches in diameter. The entrance was described 

 as being papered and nicely built, the tunnel being nine inches 

 long. Dr. Calvert spoke of the importance of a description of 

 such a nest, as the subject was not well known. Mr. Wenzel 

 said his son Harry had caught a lively male of Vespa gennan- 

 ica on January first. Mr. E. T. Cresson, Jr., was elected a 

 member, and Mr. Oscar Mayer an associate. 



HENRY SKINNER, Recorder. 



