OP WASHINGTON. VOLUME XIV. 1912. 203 



to have his name withdrawn on account of his unexpected 

 removal from Washington, and in view of this his name was 

 not voted on. 



The first paper, "Notes on Nearctic Orthoptera. I. Non- 

 saltatorial Forms," was read by the author, Mr. A. N. 

 Caudell. 1 



Discussing Mr. Caudell's paper, Mr. Schwarz asked how 

 the number of species of Phasmidse in arid regions compares 

 with the species from the more humid regions. Mr. Caudell 

 replied that it was his impression that the species recorded 

 from arid regions are somewhat less than those from more 

 humid areas. 



Professor Quaintance asked how many cave species occur 

 in the Orthoptera. Mr. Caudell answered that aside from the 

 species of the genus Hadenoecns, which are mostly confined to 

 caves, there are few of our species peculiar to caves. 



Professor Symons asked what the distribution of Diaphe- 

 romera femora fa is. Mr. Caudell stated that it occurs all 

 over the north and south into Texas, where it is replaced by 

 D. z'elli, which, however, ranges north as far as New York. 



Mr. Busck remarked that he was glad to note that Mr. Cau- 

 dell had united genera and subgenera, which differed only in 

 secondary sexual characters, and the generic value of such 

 characters was discussed at some length. 



Mr. Caudell said that it is his opinion that genera based 

 only on secondary sexual characters should not stand, but 

 so far he has not carried this out radically. 



Mr. Schwarz remarked that in Coleoptera the secondary 

 characters situated in close proximity to the primary sexual 

 characters have been and still are successfully used as generic 

 characters; the more remotely they are situated from the 

 primary sexual characters, the more they lose their value as 

 generic characters, without, however, losing their value as 

 one of our best means of distinguishing species. 



Mr. Barber asked Mr. Busck what constitutes a secondary 

 sexual character, to which Mr. Busck responded that he con- 



J To be published in the Proceedings of the United States National 

 Museum. 



