ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. 



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PHILADELPHIA, PA., OCTOBER, 1903. 



Reports have been received that the collecting season has 

 been poor all over the country and the disappointment has 

 been quite general. The desire for new and interesting spe- 

 cies appears to dominate, and if we always had success in col- 

 lecting it is to be feared that other interests would suffer. 



The absence of new specimens tends to call attention to our 

 collections and unworked material, and we are thus likely to 

 study and put into better shape the collections at hand. There 

 is plenty of work to do other than describing new species, and 

 there is nothing more useful than establishing the known spe- 

 cies on a firmer foundation. Perhaps if collecting ceased for a 

 period of a few years entomology would be all the better for it, 

 as the time could be very profitably spent in useful studies. 

 The loss, however, would be in the lack of pleasure of an out- 

 door life, the woods, the hills, the lakes and streams, and the 

 physicial exercise and recreation that are part and parcel of 

 the work. 



WE recently received two wasps' nests from Pecos, Texas, and out of 

 one hundred and forty-four Polistes texanns Cress, that emerged, thirty- 

 four were stylopised by a specios of Xenos. Most of the Xenos appeared 

 to be females, and only four males were secured. Many of the wasps 

 had a number of the parasites on them. 



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