ENTOMOLOGICAL SECTION. Ill 



" Descriptions of some monstrosities observed in North American 

 Coleoptera," by Horace F. Jayne. 



Permission was granted to Dr. Horn to divide into two parts a 

 paper presented by him at the meeting in September, 1879, the titles 

 of which he announced to be as follows : 



" Notes on some genera of Cerambycidee, with descriptions of 

 new species." 



" Contributions to the Coleopterology of the United States." 



Dr. Horn called the attention of the members to a pamphlet on 

 the table from A. Preudhomnie de Borre, on the "Best arrangement 

 of boxes and cartons of collections of insects," (Ann. Soc. Eut. Belg. 

 Apl. 1879), on which the following remarks were made : 



Mr. de Borre begins his paper by admitting that the arrangement 

 of boxes on their edge or end has advantages over any other iu the 

 economy of space and the ease in consulting the cabinet. 



The dangers of such a course are summed up in a few words : 1, speci- 

 mens become loose and fall breaking themselves and their neighbors; 

 2, or they turn on their pins with similar results; 3, infected speci- 

 mens are not readily detected by the dust. These certainly seem like 

 serious objections and to properly understand them we must consider 

 them from the standpoint from which Mr. de Borre speaks. 



The boxes in use in France and Belgium are for the most part 

 what we know as the " French cartons," made of heavy pasteboard 

 about two inches and a half deep and eight by ten, all in outside 

 measure. These are lined at bottom with papier-mache, peat or cork, 

 the last seems the most uncommon from its greater cost, and from my 

 experience with these boxes is rarely used in sufficient thickness or 

 in very good quality. The other two articles are objectionable from 

 their lack of elasticity and a pin-hole once made remains the same, 

 while the peat has the additional bad quality of slightly corroding 

 and adhering to the pins. The material of which the cartons is made 

 is objectionable for several reasons, it is heavy, it will not retain its 

 shape, the bottoms becoming convex and the sides of the lid spread- 

 ing, the material is hard and should a pin be pushed through the cork 

 or other lining the point is always turned in a hook. 



The pin used by the French and Belgians is long measuring from 

 1.5 to 1.64 of an inch (37.5 — 42 mm.), while the English go to the 

 other objectionable extreme of using a pin but little longer than an 

 ordinary toilet pin. 



The long pin, as justly remarked by Mr. de Borre, places the speci- 



