[80 THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



burgh, W. Va.; J. A Lintner, Albany, N. Y.; Rev. J. G. Morris, Balti- 

 more, Md. ; Wm. Saunders, London, Ontario ; E. W. Claypole, Yellow 

 Springs, Ohio; Miss M. W. Brooks, Salem, Mass.; B. Pickman Mann, 

 Washington ; C. D. Zimmermann. Bufifalo, N. Y.; A. J. Cook, Lansing, 

 Mich.; J. D. Putnam, Davenport, Iowa; S. H. Peabody, Champaign, 111.; 

 V. T. Chambers, Covington, Ky., and Chas. Drury, Avondale, Ohio. 



On Thursday, August iSth, the Sub-section of Entomology met at 

 2.30 p. m. 



The first paper read was by Prof. C. V. Riley, on Retarded Develop- 

 ment in Insects. In this paper the author recorded several interesting 

 cases of retarded development in insects, whether as summer coma, or 

 dormancy of certain portions of a given brood of caterpillars, the belated 

 issuing of certain imagines from the pupa, or the deferred hatching of 

 eggs. One of the most remarkable cases of this last to which he called 

 attention was the hatching this year of the eggs of the Rocky Mountain 

 Locust or Western Grasshopper, Calopteiius spj-etus, that were laid in 1876 

 around the Agricultural College at Manhattan, Kansas. These eggs were 

 buried some ten inches below the surface in the fall of 1876 in grading 

 the ground around the chemical laboratory, the superincumbent material 

 being clay, old mortar and bits of stone and a plank sidewalk above this. 



In removing and regrading the soil last spring, Mr. J. D. Graham 

 noticed that the eggs looked sound • and fresh, and that they readily 

 hatched when exposed to normal influences ; the species being determined 

 by Prof. Riley from specimens submitted by Mr. Graham. Remarkable 

 as the facts are, there can be no question as to their accuracy, so that the 

 eggs actually remained unhatched during nearly four years and a half, or 

 four years longer than is their wont. This suggests the significant ques- 

 tion : how much longer the eggs of this species could under favoring 

 conditions of dryness and reduced temperature, retain their vitality and 

 power of hatching. 



Putting all the tacts together, Prof. Riley concludes that we are yet 

 unable to offer any satisfactory explanation of the causes which induce 

 exceptional retardation in development among insects. The eggs of 

 Crustaceans, as those of Sepus and Cypris, are known to have the power 

 of resisting drouth for six, ten or more years without losing vitality, while 

 in some cases they seem actually to require a certain amount of desiccation 

 before they will hatch. Yet the fact remains that different species act 

 differently in this respect, and that individuals of the same species under 



