140 Journal New York Entomological Society. [Voi. xvii. 



Mr. Malausch exhibited some original water color drawings of Membracidre from 

 Rincon Mts. , Arizona, collected by Mr. G. Beyer. 



Mr. Schaeffer exhibited and pointed out the salient characters of some twenty 

 new species of Coleoptera, the descriptions of which will form a small paper to be 

 published in the Bulletin of the Brooklyn Museum. He exhibited a specimen of 

 Dytiscus verticalis with elytra expanded and called attention to the wing-like ap- 

 pendage at the base of each elytron. He also showed specimens of Pandeleletejits 

 cavv-os/ris, robus/us, subnietaUicus, and Ciiubocei-a conspersa in which the deciduous 

 mandibular appendages were still present. These appendages are present in the 

 larval stage but are lost in the early life of the imago, leaving a scar at the place 

 where they have been attached. The presence of this scar and the form of the man- 

 dibles, which are pincer-like and formed rather for crushing than cutting, is the 

 important character separating the Otiorhynchidse from the rest of the Rhynchophora. 

 He showed also a small branch of Acacia cornigera and called attention to the small 

 appendages at the tip of the leaflets, which are called " Belt's bodies." These small 

 appendages contain much albumen and are eaten by ants which inhabit the large, 

 hollow thorns of several species of Acacia in tropical America. The ants also feed on 

 the sugary fluid, secreted from extrafloral nectaries, near the base of the petioles. 

 The ants which thus receive shelter and food from the tree are said to protect it by 

 keeping away the leaf-cutting ants. 



Mr. Cook told of his experiences in searching for winter eggs of Lycjenidfe and 

 said that by carefully noting where the female oviposited in the fall, he sometimes 

 succeeded in finding two or three eggs in a day. He had observed Lyccena scudderia 

 ovipositing on lupine. The female would work its way nervously down the stem, 

 inserting the tip of the abdomen in the axles of the petioles as if ovipositing but 

 actually would not lay an egg until it had reached the second or third node from the 

 base of the stem, and in fact, would sometimes place the egg on grass or other vege- 

 tation close by. 



The ovipositing of Chrysophamis tho'e had also been observed, and in company 

 with Mr. Davis, Mr. Cook had just succeeded in obtaining eggs of Epidcniia epi- 

 xanthe at Jamesburg, N. J. This species oviposits on the cranberry. In doing so 

 the insect flutters down nervously in an open spot and places the egg low down on 

 the plant, but never on the tips of the vine. 



Mr. Davis exhiljited a specimen, which had been captured on Staten Island, of 

 the recently described Plagodis schuylkillensis Grossbeck. 



Dr. Zabriskie said that he had recently been in California and among other in- 

 teresting things had observed a number of woodpeckers storing acorns in the bark of 

 the oak trees in several localities. 



In the discussion Mr. Davis said it was no doubt a great help to the woodpeckers 

 to place the acorns in the holes they made for them for the reason that they could then 

 hold them as in a vise, and open them more easily. 



Society adjourned. 



Meeting of April 20, 1909. 



Held at the .'\merican Museum of Natural History at 8.15 P. M. President C. 

 W. Leng in the chair with twenty-one members present. 



The librarian reported the receipt of the following exchanges : 



