1S02.] 141 



Total, — 274 specimens. 



DONATIONS TO LIBRARY. 



,S//nf>psis (>/ the Neuroptera. of North America, h}j Hermann IliKjcn, 

 1801. From the Smithsonian Institution. 



Proceedings of the. Boston Society of Natural History, Vol. 8, pages 

 225 — 256. From the Society. 



Prairie Farmer {Chicago, 111.), Nos. 8 to 6 of Vol. 9. From the 

 Editors. 



Griffith's Cuvier's Animal Kingdom, 2 Vols, on Insects, London, 1832; 

 and Stephens's Nomenclature of British Insects, London, 1829. From 

 James Ridings. 



Naturalist's Library, 1 Vol. on Insects, London, 1852. From John 

 Pear sail. 



Notice of the genus Selandria, and Descriptions of several of Harris's 

 named Tenthredinidse, by Edirard Norton. From the Author. 



WRITTEN COMMUNICATIONS. 



A letter was read from Mr. William A. Nason, dated Chicago, 111., Jan. 

 20th, 1862, acknowledging his election as a Correspondent of the Society. 



A communication was read from Mr. T. B. Ashton, dated North White 

 Creek, Washington County, New York, January 10th, 1862, in which he 

 makes the following observations :— 



"Aphis aven^ Fair., has been found the past season in vast numbers 

 upon the heads of Oats, clustering around the grain just where it joins 

 the stalk. They have been met with, the past season, through all this 

 section of country, and no field, in any situation that I have visited, has 

 been free of them. They extract the juice from the stalk that is design- 

 ed to mature its fruit, consequently the grain is not of the usual heft. 

 They were to be found in much larger numbers upon late, than early oats. 

 They disappear from a field as soon as the grain becomes ripe or is cut 

 and dried. They have never been noticed by people in general until the 

 past season, though, it is said, they have existed in small numbers in this 

 vicinity for many years. Many species of Coccinellidec with their larvae 

 feed upon and destroy myriads of them, and thus holding them in check, 

 showing- us that the All-Wise Creator commissions 'minims' of nature to 

 destroy the 'expectations of man' and at the same time bids them 'thus 

 far shalt thou go and no further.' 



