Vol. xxi] ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS 421 



BOSTON SOCIETY OF NATURAL HISTORY. MUSEUM EXPEDITIONS, 1910. 

 An intensive study of New England natural history brings to view 

 the fact that comparatively little is known of the habits and local dis- 

 tribution of many of our plants and animals. The more thorough 

 investigation of the New England area undertaken by the Society has 

 already resulted in a great increase in our knowledge of the local flora 

 and fauna, while the preservation and exhibition of the New England 

 species in the Society's Museum becomes in itself a unique undertaking. 

 The exploration of the more inaccessible portions of this area is a task 

 requiring much effort and expense, but with the co-operation of friends 

 and members of the Society it must eventually be accomplished. 

 Thanks to a special appropriation by the Council, the Society was able 

 the past summer to undertake several short collecting trips, a brief 

 summary of which will be of interest. 



Vermont is still in many ways the least known of the New England 

 states from the naturalist's point of view. The first of the season's 

 expeditions was therefore made to the region on the east side of Mt. 

 Equinox (3,816 feet) in the southwestern part of the state. The Cura- 

 tor, C. W. Johnson, accompanied by Messrs. J. A. Cushman and 

 G. M. Allen, spent a week in early June at Manchester on the eastern 

 slope of the mountain. The native limestone, which is characteristic 

 of the formation of this region, is here somewhat harder than it is 

 farther south, so that many of the lime-loving plants found in the 

 limestone area of western Massachusetts and Connecticut are here 

 absent. The flora of the upland area above 2,500 feet on the moun- 

 tain is strikingly different from the association of plants found in the 

 valley and on the lower slopes, for Mt. Equinox is one of a number 

 of isolated peaks in Vermont whose summits are sufficiently elevated 

 to form boreal islands. In addition to a large collection of plants, 

 a very interesting lot of insects, molluscs, and small mammals \va^ 

 obtained. The fact that the streams of this region are part of the 

 Hudson Valley drainage area should make their further investigation 

 of importance in view of the likelihood of finding species here that 

 have come in from the western waters. Frequent rains hindered the 

 work of collecting and made it impossible to continue the investigation 

 to the other slopes of Mt. Equinox and the adjoining hills, of which 

 little is as yet known. 



During the last week in June, the Curator spent several days mi 

 Martha's Vineyard, collecting principally in the vicinity of Edgartown. 

 Among the insects obtained here were a number representing typical 

 austral species. It will be of importance to make further collections 

 of plants and insects on this and other islands off our coast at various 

 periods of the growing season. 



In extension of his previous season's work in Maine, the Cura- 



