9G Journal New York Entomological Society. [Vol. xxiv, 



insect, which in the dark looked like a miniature trolley car from the luminous 

 spot on the sides of each segment. Mr. Schaeffer said he believed it was the 

 female of Phengodes laticollis, but should be referred to H. S. Barber in 

 Washington, who had specially studied the subject, and to whom he had sent 

 similar specimens from Yaphank, L. I. The discussion that followed brought 

 out the error in the suspicion of early authors that these luminous creatures 

 were larvae of Melanactes, Asaphes or other Elateridae, the successful work of 

 H. S. Barber having shown them to belong to Lampyridae. 



Mr. Mutchler exhibited in advance of a complete report on the expedition 

 to Porto Rico : Tetracha sobrina taken at Ensenada, P. R., June 14 ; Cicindela 

 hebrcra taken at Anasco, P. R., September; Cicindela boops taken at Ensenada, 

 P. R., June 14; Cicindela trifasciata taken at Ensenada, P. R., June 14, and a 

 Cicindela, apparently new, taken by Mr. Watson in San Domingo. 



Mr. Watson exhibited Sphingidje donated to the Museum by Mr. B. Pres- 

 ton Clark, of Boston, with a collection of American Sphingidse, containing 34 

 species, new to the collection, mostly subtropical, and including the new Henio- 

 roplanes acuta R. & J., from Bolivia. 



Mr. Shoemaker spoke briefly of his summer collecting at Washington, 

 D. C, and at Slide Mt., in the Catskills, the latter resulting in the capture of 

 about 1,800 beetles and 500 to 600 Lepidoptera. On the September visit to 

 Washington he was accompanied by Mr. Nicolay and their joint efforts yielded 

 twenty-two specimens of Cychrus. 



Mr. Nicolay described their joint efforts in greater detail, regretting the 

 comparative failure of bait bottles on account of cold nights, but extolling the 

 merits of the Virginia shore of the Potomac River, opposite Plummer's Island, 

 where their success under small and moderate-sized stones led to search be- 

 neath larger ones, until, as he expressed it, they were " moving the landscape 

 a little." Pferosticlius purpuratiis was common and P. appro.viniatits and other 

 desirable Carabidae were found, while Parnidae were seen crawling like spiders 

 on wood pulled out of the water into the sunshine, and Cremastochilus sp. was 

 found under a stone with ants, which dragged it down under the soil when 

 disturbed. 



Mr. Davis said in his experience Cremastochilus buried itself, but Mr. 

 Nicolay repeated that in this instance two ants pulled on the front legs while 

 he pulled on the hind legs. 



Mr. Nicolay also spoke of Cicindelidas caught at Mt. Pocono, Pa., and 

 promised to show them at the next meeting. 



Mr. Dow mentioned the death on August 24 of J. Turner Brakeley, of 

 Lahaway, and his friendship with Smith Grossbcck and the two Wenzels, and 

 promised a paper on his personal characteristics and entomological activity for 

 next meeting. He exhibited specimens caught at Lahaway this summer and 

 at Allaben in the Catskills where he met Pearsall and Crosby commenting espe- 

 cially on the abundance of Strategus antccus and Cicindela lepida at Lahaway, 

 where the burrows of the latter could be found only two or three feet apart in 

 perfectly smooth grassless places of white sand. He donated Arctia caia 



