ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. 



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PHILADELPHIA, PA., NOVEMBER, 1908. 



The following letter has been received : 

 'A strange animal has made its appearance in the 



Department of the City Hall. The head of the Bureau thinks 

 a large spider has changed by metamorphosis into a large green 

 moth. I know this to be impossible, but I am anxious that an 

 expert shall investigate the matter, as I am no authority on 

 such subjects. The moth is undoubtedly a very strange one, 

 and is entirely unfamiliar to me. 



"If you can call and look at it, I think you will be interested." 

 There are so many things to know these days that consider- 

 able discrimination should be used in making a selection for 

 school children. They are probably taught some things less 

 useful than an elementary knowledge of Entomology and other 

 branches of natural history. There may be some excuse for 

 the grown people of to-day who know nothing about the trans- 

 formations of insects, but the children of the present time 

 should be better taught. The large spider mentioned in the 

 letter was Argiope rlparia and the moth Pholns pandorus. 



TRIGONALYS AND ROPRONIA IN VIRGINIA. Three species of Trigon- 

 alidas I have taken near Falls Church, Va. Lycogaster pullata at Glen- 

 carlyn, Va., 4 May, and Falls Church, 29 May, Lycogaster costalis at 

 Great Falls, Va., 25 June, and 31 July. Trigonalys pitlchellns, Great 

 Falls, Va., 12 and 25 June. Schulz in the Trigonalidse of the Genera 

 Insectorum puts costalis as a synonym of pulchcllus. This is entirely 

 wrong; both were described from males, and costalis has the male ven- 

 tral structure as in Lycogaster, just as originally stated by Cresson. 



Last winter I left a peculiar Hymenopteron with Mr. Crawford, to- 

 gether with some bees. Later he identified it as Ropronia, probably R. 

 garmani. This season I have taken two R. garmani. Falls Church, 7 

 June, and Great Falls, Va., 25 June; and one R. ashmcadi at Falls 

 Church, 5 July. NATHAN BANKS. 



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