70 Journal New York Entomological Society. [VoI.xviii 



Dr. Alexander Petrunkevitch gave an interesting account of " A Collect- 

 ing Trip to Southern Mexico," and' exhibited a large collection of spiders and 

 insects preserved in alcohol. He spoke briefly on the itinerary of his trip. 

 He sailed from New York early in July and reached Vera Cruz on the ninth, 

 having stopped at Havana en route. He also explained his method of pack- 

 ing vials of material between pieces of cardboard to prevent their breaking 

 while on shipment. Two days were spent about Vera Cruz, but as the hills 

 were bare and the vegetation sparse, collecting was poor. Thence he pro- 

 ceeded by railroad to the isthmus of Tehuantepec where he encountered the 

 rich tropical forests of the low-lands of Mexico. Here he stopped ten days 

 at the plantation of Mr. Harvey in the midst of a typical Mexican jungle. It 

 rained a great deal, so that collecting was often done under disadvantages, 

 but he found the fauna extremely rich. He employed various methods of 

 collecting, such as sweeping, digging in bark and leaves and sifting. He 

 mentioned the characteristic kinds of spiders occurring in this region and 

 spoke briefly of their habits. Among those named were the tarantulas, trap- 

 door and jumping spiders, but there was a surprising absence of orb-weaving 

 species, possibly owing to its being the wrong season of the year. From this 

 point he went across the isthmus and a little lower down to a dryer, more 

 gravelly country, with no tropical forests and no jungles — more of a desert in 

 which cactus and mesquite predominated. Here insect life, in spite of the 

 desert-like character of the country, was quite plentiful. Proceeding still 

 further south, he collected a few days near the Guatemalan border, in a 

 low, flat, jungle country, but torrential rains interfered with his operations and 

 ruined the railroad for a considerable distance. Here he took horses to get 

 through the jungle, but everything was so soaking wet that few specimens 

 could be obtained. He mentioned the characteristic insects which he saw at 

 various points on his trip, and remarked that all entomological collecting 

 was merely incidental, as he was primarily after spiders. Among other things 

 he spoke of witnessing the migration of miHions of butterflies, the copulation 

 of nymphal locusts, the great number of beautiful Morphos, the swarming of 

 the centipedes and scorpions in the thatched roofs, the work of the army-ant 

 (Eciton) in clearing these out, the great abundance of mosquitoes, which 

 often pestered him, the almost entire absence of snakes (he having seen only 

 five specimens), the color differences between the jungle and desert forms, etc. 



On question of Mr. Leng, Dr. Petrunkewitch described a typical jungle 

 and spoke of its deathly stillness, owing to the absence of life. In closing he 

 stated that arrangements would be made through Dr. Lutz for the members to 

 study and determine the material. 



The Society adjourned. 



H. G. Barber, 



Secretary. 



