214 ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. [Sept., 'O2 



ence in color alone. Dcva is the larger and more robust species 

 of the two. Mr. W. H. Edwards has evidently described 

 vicrccki in mistake for dcra, in Papilio ii, 138, 1882. I have 

 a very large series of dcva in my own collection and one 

 female of vierecki, which I have had without a name for many 

 years. The type of dcva came from Prescott, Arizona, and 

 most of the specimens I have are from Mt. Graham, Arizona. 

 Godman and Salvin, in the Biologia Centrali Americana, Rhop. 

 ii, 492, 1900, erect the genus Atrytonopsis for dcva. What 

 they figure as A. python 9 is pittacus 9 . They suggest the 

 possibility of this error. 



DR. M. E. HOAG, of Maxwell, Iowa, contemplates making a change in 

 his business affairs, and will be unable to negotiate any new exchanges 

 for the present. Part of his time will probably be spent abroad. Corres- 

 pondents will please take notice. 



" LAST summer I was coming across the meadows this side of Atlantic 

 City N. J. , on my wheel, when my attention was attracted by the sound of 

 a cow bell. It had such a strange, unusual sound that 1 dismounted to 

 investigate, and soon encountered a huge mosquito. She had eaten the 

 cow and was ringing the bell to attract the calf, that she might devour 

 that also." Referred to the State Entomologist to establish the truth of 

 this. 



A MT. AIRY girl sat on the porch steps and watched the fireflies Hitting 

 about through the trees. " I wonder if it is true that they get into hay- 

 mows of barns and set fire to them," she remarked. The other people 

 on the porch laughed with scorn. "Well, I read about it in the paper," 

 said the girl, waxing indignant. " Only yesterday there was a piece that 

 was headed : 'Work ot Firebugs,' and then went on to tell how a barn 

 had been set on fire and was totally destroyed." And after this explan- 

 ation she still continued to wonder why the other people laughed. 



Animal Activities. A First Book in Zoology. By Nathaniel S. French, 

 Ph. D. Longmans, Green & Co. , 91 Fifth Avenue, New York. This is 

 a work of 262 pages and 205 illustrations. Directions are given for col- 

 lecting and preserving the material needed for study. An excellent 

 feature is a vocabulary of the terms used at the end of each chapter. 

 The system of questions is also a very valuable means of imparting infor- 

 mation when the student is expected to answer them from an examination 

 of the actual specimens. Insects receive considerable attention from the 

 standpoint of anatomy and physiology. We think the work will prove 

 useful as an elementary guide and we can recommend it. H. S. 



