84 Journal New York Entomological Society. [Vol. xxi. 



Mr. Dickerson spoke of the serious damage caused by this beetle in Nut- 

 ley and Paterson. 



Dr. Lutz spoke of the taxonomy and habits of Muscida sensu stricHi. 

 illustrating his remarks by drawings and Museum collection of these flies. He 

 dwelt upon the characters by which the species are separated, the median 

 stripe, the venation, the color, etc., and pointed out which species are carniv- 

 orous and which inhabit dung, intimating that one species of supposedly copro- 

 phagous habits probably attacked the earthworms in the manure. He also 

 referred to species attacking flesh before death, burrowing into wounds, nos- 

 trils, etc., and to those particularly associated with cadavers. 



Mr. Harris referred to his experience in opening old coffins that had been 

 buried one hundred and fifty years in a vault at Cambridge, and finding half a 

 handful of pupa cases of the cadaver fly. He also referred to the paper by 

 Motter in Volume 6 of our Journal on " Insects Occurring in Human Graves." 



Mr. Dow, referring to the curator's remarks on winter collecting, said that 

 he was at Bergen Beach on December i and found a very rotten and populous 

 oak log, in which a Dermestes caninus was found in a burrow. He did not 

 consider this a case of hibernation, for although it had been freezing weather 

 for many days, the temperature in the log must have been fifty degrees or more. 

 He enumerated twenty species of Coleoptera in imago stage and eighteen in 

 larval stage, besides five lepidopterous pupae, three dipterous larvae, three hemip- 

 terous insects XAnasa tristis, the squash bug, being present in vast numbers), 

 pseudo-scorpions, centipedes, sow bugs, slugs and Thysanura as indicative of 

 the excessive population referred to. 



Mr. Woodruff exhibited the damsel-flies, Lestes uncata, taken at Bronx- 

 ville, July 9, and Enallagma piscinarium Williamson, taken at Lakehurst May 

 29, also Tetragoneuria spinigera, taken at Litchfield, Conn., June 29. 



In reply to Dr. Osburn he stated that the distribution of Enallagma pis- 

 cinarium is more northerly, extending also to the middle west. 



Mr. Davis mentioned two New Jersey records for Tetragoneuria spinigera, 

 namely. Greenwood Lake, a specimen taken by Mr. Watson, and Newfoundland, 

 a specimen taken by himself May 28, 19 10. 



Meeting of December 17, 1912. 



A regular meeting of the New York Entomological Society was held De- 

 cember 17, 191 2, at 8.15 P. M., in the American Museum of Natural History, 

 President Dr. Raymond C. Osburn in the chair and thirteen members present. 



The President opened the Symposium on " Insects of Dry Terrestrial 

 Environment." 



Dr. Lutz read a paper on the subject, referring particularly to the sandy 

 areas at Lakehurst, where the loose sand supplied an example of an environ- 

 ment characterized by dryness, heat and ease of penetration for digging insects. 

 He referred to the number of predaceous insects to be found there and to the 

 causes of their abundance ; to the number of fossorial insects to be found 

 there ; and to the southern aspect of the fauna, which in his view was due to 



