X MONTHLY PROCEEDINGS 



Oryssus mexicanus. — ^. — Black, opaque, coarsely and confluently 

 punctured; vertex crowned with a circular row of prominent tubercles around 

 the lower ocellus, and between the summit of the eyes a coarse transversely 

 rugose prominence; on each side of the face a sharply defined longitudinal 

 carina reaching below to the acutely margined, somewhat recurved tip of 

 clypeus, converging above and connected by a cross-carina below the lower 

 ocellus, the surface within this oblong quadrangular enclosure is reticulated; 

 cheeks silvery sericeous, a short acute carina on each side above base of mandi- 

 bles: posterior margin of prothorax above silvery-sericeous; a longitudinal 

 shining ridge on disk of mesothorax and another shorter and less distinct on 

 each side over the tegulse; scutellum rounded at tip; wings fusco-hyaline, a 

 subhyaline space beneath stigma; tibise piceous, tarsi dull ferruginous; ab- 

 domen rather shining, basal margin of the segments rufo-testaceous. Length 

 .60 inch, 



Hab. — Mexico, (Sumiclirast). One specimen. 



Cleptes piirpurata. — 9- — Purple, changing to blue, shining; head 

 and thorax sparsely punctured, thinly clothed with erect black pubescence; 

 scape black, flagellum brown, sericeous; prothorax green; longitudinal lines 

 on mesothorax deeply impressed ; metathorax coarsely rugose, longitudinally 

 so at base above, lateral angles subacute; tegulse piceous; wings pale fuscous; 

 legs black or piceous; abdomen flattened, ovate, smooth and shining, minutely 

 punctured, black, changing to purple in certain lights, thinly clothed with 

 short black pubescence. Length .30 inch. 



Ilab. — Vancouver's Island. (Henry Edwards). One specimen. 



Cleptes ainericaiia. — '^ 9 • — Green, blue or purple, sparsely punctured, 

 thinly clothed with black pubescence; antennse black, scape sometimes blue 

 or green, flagellum sericeous; thorax strongly punctured, longitudinal lines 

 on mesothorax well impressed; metathorax reticulated, sometimes longitudi- 

 nally rugose at base abovg, lateral angles acute; tegulse black or piceous, 

 sometimes seneous; wings pale fuscous; tibiae and tarsi black or piceous; 

 abdomen flattened, smooth and shining, feebly punctured, thinly pubescent, 

 black, changing to green, blue or purjile in certain lights. Length .20 — 

 .23 inch. 



SaL). — Colorado, Nevada. Fourteen specimens. 



Mr. Cresson stated that the species described by him at a former 

 meeting as Eucliroeus Edicardsii, should have been referred to Par- 

 nojjes, also a genus not hitherto represented in North America. 



Rev. Mr. McCook exhibited some microscopic slides containing 

 thin sections of the mandibles of the Agricultural Ant of Texas, 

 (^Pogonoyni/rmex harhatus), showing the loss of substance by wear 

 on the sharp edges of the teeth. These slides served to illustrate his 

 views that, while the teeth of the mandibles in some specimens may 

 be naturally more acute than in others, the great amount of rounding 

 seen in the specimens of older individuals is the result of natural 

 wear as in the teeth of higher animals. The same fact was also illus- 



