Sept., igog.l PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY. 141 



Georgia State Board of Entomology. Circulars, Nos. 6, 7, 8. Bulletins, Nos. 

 24, 26, 27, 28. 



Bulletino della Soc. Entornol. Italiana, XL, Nos. i, 2. 



Canad. Entoni., XLI, No, 4. 



Zeitschr. f, Wissenschft. Insektenbiologie, V, No. 3. 



Verhandl. d. k. k. Zoolog. Bot. Gesel. Wien, LIX, Nos. I, 2. 



Mr. Dow, of the Field Committee, announced the outing at next Saturday's meet- 

 ing on Staten Island, at which Mr. Davis will act as a guide. 



Dr. Love proposed Dr. Henry E. Crampton, of the American Museum, as an 

 active member of the Society. On motion the by-laws were suspended and the sec- 

 retary authorized to cast a single ballot for the election of Dr. Crampton. 



Dr. Southwick invited the members of the Society to attend an outing of the 

 Torrey Botanical Society to be held at South Amboy, Saturday, April 24. 



Dr. Lutz spoke concerning " Experimental Work with Drosophila ampe/op/iila.'" 

 He remarked that this fly has proved to be excellent material for experimental investi- 

 gation of evolution. He spoke of the method of rearing the fly on over-ripe fruit. It 

 thrives well under laboratory conditions, the life-cycle is short, the number of offspring 

 large and it can be kept breeding throughout the year. Although the present work 

 was started less than three years ago, more than fifty pedigreed generations had been 

 obtained. 



Most of the time had been spent in studying the inheritance of abnormal vena- 

 tion. About one third of one per cent, of the flies in nature have an extra vein or 

 part of a vein in the antero-distal portion of either one or both wings. This portion of a 

 vein is frequently no more than a mere speck, but by selective breeding one can get a 

 race of flies in which all of the individuals possess supernumerary veins, and in some 

 individuals the additional vein material almost or quite equals in amount the normal. 

 Also, one occasionally finds wild flies in which the fifth longitudinal vein does not 

 quite reach the margin of the wing. By using these as the starting point of selection, 

 it is possible to get a strain in which it is a common occurrence for most of the veins 

 to stop short at that margin. Although the flies of the pedigreed strain have not been 

 allowed to use their wings for a relatively large number of generations, there has been 

 no degeneration due to disuse. He remal-ked that, curiously enough, in nterbreeding, 

 the sexes selected normal individuals in mating. 



In reply to a question from Mr. Leng, Dr. Lutz explained the Mendelian theory. 



Mr. Matausch exhibited a number of hand-colored, original drawings of some 

 interesting local species of Membracidas collected by ]\Ir. Davis. 



Mr. Leng exhibited a collection of Brachyacantha. He sketched the history of 

 the systematic work that has been published on the genus and described the charac- 

 ters by which it is separated from other Coccinellidae. He referred particularly to 

 the various modifications that are found in the ventral segments of the males, and 

 stated that a similarity in this respect apparently accompanies a similarity in pattern 

 of elytral maculation. He closed by describing especially the difference between the 

 species that have been treated by Gorham as varieties of deiitipes and expressed the 

 opinion that some of these at least should be regarded as valid species. 



Mr. Dickerson exhibited two specimens of Carabus nemoralis. which he had 

 taken under stones in his back yard in Newark in April, remarking that this was 

 further evidence that this European species was well established in the eastern United 

 States. 



