Jan., '09] ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. 43 



Doings of Societies. 



The Brooklyn Entomological Society met at 55 Stuyvesant 

 Avenue, October ist with eighteen members present. 



Prof. John B. Smith spoke of the summer's entomological 

 happenings and remarked the steady northward progress of 

 the Sphccius spcciosus with a most noticeable cutting down of 

 the prevalence of Cicada. The wasp has been common for at 

 least twenty years along the centre of Long Island, burrowing 

 in the loose sand by the railroad track. W. T. Davis who has 

 been working over the Cicada, collected at Tuckerton, N. J., 

 and got his principal supply by intercepting the female spe- 

 ciosus and stealing her prey. Cicada canaUcularis was the 

 species most frequently thus obtained. In the burrows tach- 

 inid larvae as secondary parasites infested a majority of the 

 Cicada. C. V. Riley's familiar drawing in "Insect Life" was 

 criticized inasmuch as it shows the wasp carrying the Cicada 

 by the back. The wasp invariably grips the underside, holding 

 the legs. After they fall to the ground the Cicada is pulled 

 along, its back being smooth. 



Mr. Geo. Franck and others described the flight of Eiuw- 

 mos subsignarius during the night of July 16. They were 

 swept up by bushels and whitened the streets. Of thousands 

 picked up, all were males. No one had observed the larvae 

 as commoner than usual. The English sparrows destroyed 

 vast numbers but did not eat them. They apparently picked 

 off the wings in wanton mischief. 



The great flight of 1862 was precisely similar. It was con- 

 fined to the large cities and extended to Montreal. A plague 

 of caterpillars followed the next year. Then, as this year, the 

 females being heavier, stayed at home. 



Of records of captures during the summer there was noted 

 Libytliea bachmanni at Bay Ridge, L. I. ; Painplrila f>h\laeus 

 at Canarsic, L. I. and Hopatcong, N. J. ; Tliecla iii-alliuin at 

 Hopatcong, a northernmost record; Lcbia plcuritica and mar- 

 ginicollis at Flatbush, L. I.; Pamphila delaivare at Hopatcong. 

 Pamphila massasoit was common in Orange County, N. Y. 

 Malachius aeiieus was common at Claremont, New Hamp- 



