180 Journal New York Entomological Society, t^'o'- >^>^ii- 



Florida trips. Some of these are new to science, especially among the 

 Belocephalus inhabiting the Keys. The insects of this genus cannot fly nor 

 can they travel about very well on account of their clumsy bodies, so they 

 become liable to the influence of isolation, and specific differences can well 

 arise every few hundred miles. Mr. Davis showed by figures the difi^erences 

 in subgenital plates, etc., by which the species are separated. He spoke also 

 of an acrid fluid expelled by one species of walking stick similar to con- 

 densed milk in appearance; of an earwig found taking care of her numerous 

 young in her cell ; of the Big Lubber Grasshopper, of Aptenopedes aptera 

 Scudder chewing half moon holes in scrub palmetto, and of the katydid first 

 described by Beutenmuller, and its song. He described the method of " shin- 

 ing the road " at night as specially productive at Miami, where a road ran 

 through the big hammock and where Mr. Sleight caught Phrixa inaya (de- 

 scribed from Yucatan) for the first time in the United States. 



Mr. Mutchler spoke of " Some of the Museum Collections " exhibiting 

 types additional to those already reported, and the system of arrangement of 

 the drawers. He also showed a new species of Criocephalus from Cuba. 



Mr. Dow gave an " Exhibition of Early Entomological Books " showing 

 the works of Ray, Reaumur, Geoffroy and others, and commenting on the state 

 of the science previous to the time of Linne, spoke particularly of the remark- 

 able work in dissection and drawing of some early Italian authors. 



Meeting of April 7. 



A regular meeting of the New York Entomological Society was held 

 April 7, 1914, at 8:15 P. M., in the American Museum of Natural History, 

 President Dr. Raymond C. Osburn in the chair, and seventeen members 

 present. 



Mr. Leng read a paper on " West Indian Coleoptera " in which after 

 reciting the methods employed in compiling the list he showed on the black- 

 board the following comparison of the total number of species recorded in the 

 principal families from the West Indies and from New Jersey, viz. : 



West Indies. New Jersey. 



Rhynchophora 590 429 



Chrysomelidae 364 271 



Cerambycidse 243 197 



Scarabsidse 182 163 



Tenebrionidre 1 34 65 



Elateridae 123 129 



Staphylinida; 146 257 



Carabidre 113 357 



Silphid.c o 34 



Total, including smaller families 2,900 3.042 



exhibiting as salient features of the fauna, a comparative wealth in phyto- 

 phagous species contrasted with a comparative poverty in carnivorous species 



