12 KXTOMOLOGICAL NKWS. [J ;m - 



PHY ToxoMrs PI-NCTATUS FAB. The appearance ot this weevil in this 

 vicinity tor the first time ami in numbers, is one of the remarkable im i 

 dents in Coleoptera occurring during the year just ended. 'I IK- tirst spei i 

 im -i is were taken about the first week in May and tin- last tin- early part ot 

 November. At irregular intervals it appeared very abnndantly, and Imt few 

 days passed \vithout at least one or two specimen-, bein- observed. It is 

 singular that, when this insect make-, its appearance in any locality, it is 

 always in numbers. Mr. Reinecke, ot buffalo, in August, iSSj, recorded 

 an invasion of this species at that place, in the lluffalo /)'</> /'; 

 which was reprinted in the " Brooklyn bulletin" of September, iS.s.j. 



( "n AKI.KS I.n.m K. 



A CocoAM'T PEST. The United States Consul at Santiago de Cuba 

 has made a report to the Secretary of State in regard to a mysterious 

 disease prevailing in that country which at one time threatened to anni- 

 hilate all the plantations producing cocoanuts for market and export. 

 Small shipments of cocoanuts are constantly leaving Santiago for tin- 

 United States, and the Consul says he has sought to discover the origin 

 of the disease which has affected them. Opinions of scientists differ as to 

 the cause and nature of the disease. The Consul says that it has been at 

 last definitely ascertained that the destroyer of the cocoanut tree is an 

 insect of diminutive si/.e, barely visible to the naked eye, and probabh a 

 Coccid. Prof. Gundlach, of Havana, recommends that all cocoanuts re- 

 ceived in the United States be dipped into boiling water upon arrival, and 

 that the bags they are shipped in be destroyed. E. .M. AAK< >v 



FKKBIA EPIPSODKA var. Siiie-occllata described in Can. Fnt. Dec., 'v. 

 p. 239, by 1 )r. I lenry Skinner, the author informs us, is probably a synonym 

 of Epipsodea var. limed described in a few words by Mr. Klues, 

 Trans. Knt. Soc., London, June, iSSij, |>. 326. The latter description 

 is as follows: "minor absque ocellis fascia rufa fere obsoleta," habitat 

 Summit County, Colorado, 12,000 feet altitude. It is but justice to Dr. 

 Skinner to state that his description was in the hands of tin- editor of the 

 "Canadian Entomologist" at least six weeks before Mr. Klues' descrip- 

 tion was received at the libraries in Philadelphia. K. M. A.\KI>N. 



1 b I.MK-MADI-: Ci IKK. Mr. !". M. ]ones, of \Yi1min^lon, 1 \-\.. describes 

 a ver\ -ood lining for insect boxes as follows : " 1 made a ron^h wooden 

 press and |irocured about a barrel of the fine cork which white -rapes are 

 packed in, mixed it with weak -hie and pr.-ssed it into sheets between 

 white paper. The sheets when pressed must be about three-ei-hths of an 

 in: h thick to turn out properly. It answers \er\ well and costs almost 



1 1. SKINNI R. 



RAIT I'M PLES ON rn KNEW JERSEY COAST. Among many good things 



t i ken on P.ri-aniine I'.eai h, N. f., just after the September storm, In which 



the whole island, excepl a lew ol the coast sandhills, was subnier-ed, max 

 b spei iall\ in iticed : 



