326 ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. [December,. 



darkened the air for the space of two or three miles square. "The grind- 

 ing of the leaves," he continues, "in the mouths of this vast multitude 

 altogether, made a sound very much resembling the sawing of timber." 

 In a short time after the appearance of these beetles in these immense 

 numbers, they had so entirely eaten up and destroyed the leaves of the 

 trees, that the whole country, for miles around, though in the middle of 

 Summer, was left as bare as in the depth of Winter. During the unfavor- 

 able seasons of the weather, which followed this plague, the swine and 

 poultry would watch under the trees for the following of the beetles, and 

 feed and fatten upon [them; and even the poorer sort of the country peo- 

 ple, the country then laboring under a scarcity of provision, had a way 

 of dressing them, and lived upon them as food. In 1695, Ireland was 

 again visited with a plague of this same kind. Cowan's Curious Facts. 



Drasterius simiolus Cand. when first described was credited to Cali- 

 fornia, and has never been identified by me. Since, it has been found 

 abundantly in Mexico, and from a specimen sent by Mr. Champion it is 

 certain that we have never had it in our fauna. 



Dinoderus brevis Horn, described many years ago from Louisiana, is 

 found by Mr. Lesne to be minutus Fab., the comparison having been made 

 at my suggestion. 



Bosfrichus spectabilis Lesne (Ann. Fr. 1895, p. 173) has recently been 

 described as from California. The characters given to the species are at 

 variance with the general faunal type, and it is to me very doubtful as to 

 locality. California has been too often assigned as the home of unknown 

 vagrants. GEO. H. HORN. 



Identification of Insects (Images) for Subscribers. 



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Entomological Literature. 



Under the above head it is intended to note such papers received at the Academy of 

 Natural Sciences of Philadelphia pertaining to the Entomology of the Americas (North 

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 taining descriptions of new genera, will not be noted. Contributions to the anatomy of 

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i. MEMOIRES DE LA SOCIETE ROYALE DBS SCIENCES DE LIEGE (2). T. 

 xviii. New Elateridae, E. Candeze. 



