March, igo4 ] PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY. 61 



tion of the North American species of the genus Phora. He mentioned the peculiar 

 structure of the antennre and the character of the wing venation, either of which 

 make easy the recognition of any species of the family. He said that the family is 

 represented by only about 125 species, of which about 70 are from Europe and the 

 majority of the remainder from North America, a considerable number being com- 

 mon to both continents. Some of the genera are remarkable on account of the par- 

 tial or entire absence of wings. Most of the species feed upon decaying matter, 

 but in a very few cases they are known to be parasitic upon other insects. Others 

 live in ant's nests, some as parasites and others as commensals. 



Mr. Brues exhibited a recent book by Baron OstenSacken, "A Record of my 

 Life-work in Entomology," and a photograph of the author. 



Mr. Davis presented some remarks on Sympetrum corruptttm in Staten Island 

 and New Jersey. He stated that in 186 1 Hagen gave for the United States, western 

 and southern localities for this dragon-fly. In the ' ' Dragon-flies of Indiana " by E. 

 B. Williamson it is recorded from Asia, Mexico, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Kansas, 

 California, Wyoming, Montana, Colorado, Texas, Louisiana and Ohio. In Smith's 

 " List of the Insects of New Jersey" it is only recorded from Eltingville, Staten Island, 

 June 27, 1896. On July 25, 1900, Mr. Davis captured a second specimen at Barne- 

 gat, N. J., and this past summer, on August 8, a third example at New Dorp, 

 Staten Island. This last was a female, the other two being males. So far as he was 

 aware, these were the only records for this insect along the Atlantic coast. 



Mr. Leng exhibited a series of the larger Coleoptera collected by Professor Wick- 

 ham chiefly on the eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada, during the summer of 1903. 

 Truckee and Amedee, California, Reno and Humboldt Lake, Nevada, were the 

 places at which the greater part of the time was spent. No Omus were taken, the 

 genus being apparently confined to the western slope of the mountains. Cicindelidse 

 were well represented, also Carabidte and Tenebrionidffi. The Cicindelidse of the 

 willistoni group found on the shores of the lakes will be referred to later. 



Mr. Schaeffer called attention to a specimen of Heterachthes which he had re- 

 ceived some time ago from Texas and which adds a rather disturbing element to our 

 characterization of the species of Heterachthes as it has the tibia; carinate. The spe- 

 cies agrees well with the description of H. nobilis ; but Le Conte and Horn in their 

 classification state that our species of Heterachthes have the tibias not carinate. We 

 have seen that the only remaining character to separate two other allied genera, viz, 

 Conifsa and Ibidion, are the carinate or non-carinate tibise, and consequently a new 

 genus for this Texas species should be erected or the genus amended to include those 

 species with carinate tibiae. He further spoke on the genus Psyrassa which he said 

 was rejected by Dr. Le Conte in his synopsis of the species of Elaphidion because 

 E. unicolor was included in the former genus. Bates in the Biol. Cent. Amer. seems 

 to have come to the same conclusion but keeps the genus distinct and proposes to in- 

 clude in Psyrassa the elongate species of Elaphidion with elongate prothorax and the 

 third joint of the antennae with a long spine, thus adding again our E. unicolor. 

 To this Dr. Horn objected, saying that if we follow this course all of our elongate 

 Elaphidion as aculeatwn, tenue, etc., have to be included in Psyrassa. Amongst 

 the new species collected in Brownsville, Texas, there are two species which possess 

 more of the characters of Psyrassa than of Elapidion, especially one of them which 

 is a true Psyrassa and for this reason he thinks it more advisable to describe them 



