192 PROCEEDINGS ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY 



in the genera to which they belong. The genera of the Ichneu- 

 monoidea are more closely defined than those of the other super- 

 families in question, and the characters used in their classifi- 

 cation are often difficult to understand. 



Mr. Schwarz said that theGemminger and Harold Catalogue 

 of the Coleoptera of the World, published in 1868 to 1876, con- 

 tained 77,008 species. Since then about 3,000 species have been 

 added each year, making roughly nearly 200,000 species. The 

 number of synonyms is, however, astonishing. The fauna is 

 only tolerably well explored in Europe and in North America; 

 elsewhere the work is very fragmentary, Australia being the 

 only other country where a fair proportion of the smaller species 

 are known. The next best known region is Central America, 

 in which the collecting- of the smaller species is practically the 

 work of but one man, Mr. George C. Champion. The fauna 

 of Africa is only "skimmed" for the larger species. 



Mr. Knab remarked that the conception of the term ' 'species" 

 differed with different workers and would considerably reduce 

 or increase the number, according to the standpoint taken. 

 There are many species which are not so considered by syste- 

 matists simply because they have no tangible characters for 

 differentiation; yet when one studies these forms in nature it 

 is clear that they have a separate existence and are therefore 

 species in the final analysis. An example is found in the two 

 forms of Prionus imbricornis, one a large, nearly black form in- 

 habiting the forested regions of the East, the other a dwarf form 

 of light color and restricted to the prairies of the Middle West. 



Dr. Gill said the estimate given by Dr. P. L. Sclater in 1878 

 (Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond.) of all animals was something like 

 385,000. 



-Mr. McAtee reported two interesting observations he had 

 made at Big Lake, Arkansas, June 20-23, 1911, as follows : 



There were three or four Emesa longipes on each window 

 screen of the house in which I stayed at Big Lake, Arkansas. 

 Mosquitoes would accumulate on these screens each evening and 

 be eaten the next day by the Emesas. I picked up some 

 Anopheles that had been sucked dry by the bugs. 



