June, 1916.] Proceedings of the Society. 163 



and nearly half the species of trees in the United States are found in Florida, 

 were remarkable in view of the sameness of the pine forests, as seen from tlie 

 railroad car ; and in view of the intimate relation between insects and their food 

 plants, serve also as an indication of the variety of species of insects found in 

 Florida. His own journeys in Florida with different companions had covered 

 the central part of the state in 191 1, the west coast in 1912 and the east coast in 

 19 1 3, and his photographs showed the vegetation of many very different parts 

 of the state from Jacksonville to Key West and from Key Marco and Choko- 

 loskee on the gulf coast to Big Pine Key on the Atlantic coast. The human 

 interest was never far distant in the remarks that accompanied the exhibition, 

 and the members were entertained by bits of family history of the Seminole 

 Indians Mr. Davis met, the dangers of navigation among the Ten Thousand 

 Islands, the fact that he was out of sight of land on Lake Okeechobee, the 

 wild cat that spit at Sleight at LaGrange, the wading through cypress swamps 

 required to reach Deep Lake, as well as by the beauty of his pictures of the 

 trees and scenery amid which his Florida insects were collected. 



Dr. Lutz then exhibited his collection of West Indian photographs, arranged 

 in series and accompanied by maps, marked to show where the photographs 

 were taken. Time did not permit of his thoroughly explaining these pictures, 

 aggregating over 600 subjects or dwelling upon the collections of Lepidoptera 

 arranged by Mr. Watson and of Coleoptera arranged by Mr. Mutchler, to ac- 

 company them ; but Porto Rico was especially selected to show the thorough 

 manner in which the exploration, after five journeys, had been carried on at 

 about twenty-five stations in different parts of the island. 



During the informal examination of the photographs and specimens 

 which closed the evening, Mr. Dow exhibited the mummied hand of an 

 Egyptian wearing a ring in which a beetle was mounted, and Mr. Schaeffer 

 exhibited the species of Coleoptera described and referred to in the Decem- 

 ber number of the Journal, calling particular attention also to Elatrinus bicolor, 

 found by Manee at Southern Pines, N. C, as the first species of the genus 

 found in the East; and to Calosoina sycophanta found by Mr. Schott in 

 Prospect Park, Brooklyn. 



Mfeting of February 15, 1916. 



A regular meeting of the New York Entomological Society was held 

 February 15, 1916, at 8:15 P.M., in the American Museum of Natural History. 

 President Harry G. Barber in the chair, with eighteen members and three 

 visitors present. 



Mr. Frank Morton Jones, 2000 Riverview Ave., Wilmington, Del., was 

 elected an active member. 



The secretary read an obituary notice of Ignaz Matausch, prepared by 

 Mr. Miner, and two communications from Mr. Brehme. 



Dr. Lutz read a paper on " Centers of Dispersal and their bearing on 

 the present Distribution of Animals," in which some recent literature was 

 discussed, and the idea that results of studies in palaeontology might profitably 

 be used in the study of insect dispersal was advanced. 



