ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS ' 



PHILADELPHIA, PA., DECEMBER, 1921. 



The Insects in the United States National Museum 



The discussion in this and preceding numbers of the XE\VS 

 on the deposition of types of insects adds interest to the data 

 given on the Insects of the National Museum in the lately 

 published Annual Report of the Smithsonian Institution for 

 1919. In it Prof. J. M. Aldrich, Associate Curator, traces the 

 origin of the insect collection to Dr. C. V. Riley in 1878, and 

 briefly follows its growth from 115,000 specimens in 1886, to 

 2,125,189 (partly estimated) in June. 1919. The named species 

 represented by this latter figure number 98,925, also estimated 

 in part. One of the most recent statements as to the total 

 number of known species of insects is that of Prof. H. S. Pratt, 

 in 1912, who gave the figures 360,000. On this basis the 

 National Museum possesses more than one-fourth of this num- 

 ber and claims to have types of about one-sixteenth, or 22,969 

 species. 



Although it is generally assumed that the Coleoptera are the 

 most extensively^ studied of the insectan orders, and although 

 the National Museum estimates its beetles at 738,000, its named 

 species thereof are but 32,500, not greatly exceeding its 30,653 

 species of Lepidoptera, with 275,920 specimens. Next follow 

 its 17,638 named species (493,757 specimens) of Hymenoptera, 

 and its 10,253 named species (210,880 specimens) of Diptera. 



Annual Meetings at Toronto, Canada. 



The Entomological Society of America will meet Tuesday and 

 Wednesday, December 27 and 28; The American Association of Eco- 

 nomic Entomologists on Thursday to Saturday, December 29 to 31 ; 

 The Ecological Society of America, Ikn-mber 27 to 30; the American 

 Society of Zoologists, December 28 to 30; the American Society of 

 Naturalists, December 29; all in affiliation with The American Asso- 

 ciation for the Advancement of Science. 



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