120 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY 



both males and females, of the beetle Phengodes laticollis Lee., 

 which he had quite recently collected on Plummers Island, 

 Maryland (near Washington, D. C.), and the members had 

 not only an opportunity to admire the luminosity of the larvi- 

 form females, but also to witness the mating of the sexes, 

 which are so dissimilar in form, and the fierce combats of the 

 males among themselves. 



OCTOBER i, 1908. 



The 224th regular meeting was held at the Saengerbund 

 Hall, 314 C street, N. W., the Society being entertained there 

 by Mr. E. A. Schwarz. President Hopkins presided, and 

 there were present Messrs. Banks, Barber, Burke, Caudell, 

 Crawford, Currie, Ely, Hall, Heidemann, Hopkins, Jones, 

 Knab, Marlatt, Patten, Ouaintance, Sanders, Sasscer, Schwarz, 

 Van Horn, Webb, and Webster, members, and Messrs. Hyslop, 

 Jennings, Leister, Lloyd, McAtee, McMillan, Overton, Peairs, 

 Russell, Smyth, and Wellman, visitors. 



Under the title '" Some Present Deciduous-fruit Insect 

 Problems," Mr. Ouaintance spoke of a recent trip to the Pacific 

 Coast to investigate pear-thrips conditions; and also of a trip 

 to Orcas Island, Puget Sound, Washington, to investigate the 

 so-called service-berry moth (Argyresthia conjugella Zeller). 



Referring to the pear thrips, Mr. Quaintance stated that the 

 so-called pear thrips (Enthrips pyri Daniel) first came to 

 notice in the spring of 1904 in the Santa Clara Valley in Cali- 

 fornia. Since its first appearance, its injuries have constantly 

 increased, and it has now spread to the principal deciduous- 

 fruit growing sections in the San Francisco Bay region. The 

 losses brought about by the pear thrips the past year have been 

 perhaps not less than half a million dollars. 



The pear thrips was first investigated in 1904 by Mr. 

 Dudley Moulton, at that time entomologist of Santa Clara 

 County, and a fairly complete account of it was published 

 in a bulletin from the office of the state commissioner of 

 horticulture. The increased destructiveness of the thrips led 



