ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. 283 



ing to the modern improvements, in which I have taken the 

 liberty of mentioning you & of referring to your Catalogue for 

 all the insects of those genera which you have kindly communi- 

 cated to me. I shall direct a copy of the article to be trans- 

 mitted to you as soon as published which will probably be next 

 Autumn 



Your excellent observations on the genus Hister I have 

 treasured up, & shall certainly quote you for them at a future 

 day, as well as for any other communications, which, coming 

 from you, I shall highly appreciate. 



In the interim I remain 

 very respectfully, 



Your friend & Obd^ Serv 1 . 

 Thomas Say 



In the June number of the NEWS Mr. Sidney Carpenter suggests that 

 Chionobas semidea should be protected by law. I take pleasure in stating 

 that this interesting insect is already protected by the highest of all laws 

 (the survival of the fittest) as well as by the nature of its environment. 



Mr. Carpenter's article reminds me of an incident in my own experi- 

 ence of collecting on Mt. Washington. One beautiful July morning I had 

 climbed some way down from the summit in search of insects, when I 

 came across two ladies mother and daughter both with butterfly nets. 

 We were soon sufficiently well acquainted to enter into a conversation, 

 and the ladies very earnestly urged me not to collect too many of Chio- 

 nobas, as it would be most unfortunate to see this insect exterminated. 



With all the courtesy at my disposal, I assured the ladies that I would 

 be no party to the extermination of this species. No one, however, who 

 had ever visited the region would have the least anxiety on the subject. 

 There is as little danger as there would be in supposing that Colias philo- 

 dice should be exterminated on Staten Island, since, even though the 

 island inhabitants were all killed oft, there would be numerous emigrants 

 from the mainland. The rugged, rocky top on Mt. Washington covers 

 an area probably never thoroughly explored by the most ardent collectors, 

 and even were it possible to destroy all of the members of the species on 

 this mountain, the adjacent peaks of Jefferson and Adams rarely resound 

 to the footfalls of man, whilst Chionobas lies in peace and abundance on 

 all three summits which arise above the tree line. 



In addition to this, the larger number of captures are males, and when 

 the females are taken they very nearly always have already deposited 

 their eggs, consequently I believe there is no immediate necessity for the 

 legislative enactment in favor of Chionobas. R. OTTOLENGUI, New York, 

 June 2, 1901. 



