June, 1913] Proceedings of the Society. 165 



coloradensis, described from Colorado, found by Mr. Schaeffer on Long Island, 

 and by himself in Newfoundland, and said that were the food plant known a 

 species of such wide range might be more often caught. 



Mr. Schaeffer said that the food plants east and west often differed and 

 the vice-president remarked that even where the food plant was plentiful the 

 insect might remain rare. 



Mr. Leng, replying to the criticisms of Dr. Lutz, said that he was anxious 

 to simplify the environment question as much as possible to the end if pos- 

 sible of creating a strong feeling in favor of environmental labels; that 

 vmknown factors undoubtedly operated in restraint of the food factor, but 

 the investigation of such should not be allowed to retard the useful work of 

 recording food habits. 



Mr. Dickerson said that he desired to emphasize the importance of such 

 records of food habits and hibernation habits from an economic standpoint. 

 He said that the plum curculio for instance and the sweet potato flea beetle 

 could be attacked more successfully were their hibernating habits known. 

 Economic entomologists depended largely upon the original work of collectors 

 for such information, and he desired to indorse strongly the super-importance 

 of recording all facts observed in the field bearing on food or shelter. 



Meeting of February 4. 



A regular meeting of the New York Entomological Society was held 

 February 4, 1913, at 8:15 P. M., in the American Museum of Natural History, 

 President Dr. Raymond C. Osburn in the chair, with sixteen members and 

 four visitors present. 



The curator reported the addition to the local collection of a notable 

 number of scale insects, representing 75 of the 88 species named in Smith's 

 List of New Jersey Insects. 



The president re-appointed Messrs. Grossbeck and Engelhardt as field 

 committee, designating Mr. Grossbeck as chairman at Mr. Engelhardt's re- 

 quest. For the field committee, Mr. Grossbeck gave notice of a field meeting 

 on February 22, at the old iron ore mines on Staten Island, under the guidance 

 of Messrs. Davis and Leng ; sifting under cover, if necessary on account of 

 weather, being the feature of the programme. 



Mr. Schaeffer spoke on Temnochilidce, exhibiting a portion of his collec- 

 tion. At the outset he expressed himself as strongly in favor of the law of 

 priority, disclaiming responsibility for the published vote by which he was 

 made to appear as being opposed thereto. Nevertheless, he was disposed to 

 proceed slowly in adopting the alleged earlier name Ostomidse for the family. 

 Speaking then of the different tribes, genera and species, Mr. Schaeffer said 

 that many of the species seemed to be of comparatively recent origin and 

 possibly still in process of evolution, leading to some difficulty in fixing the 

 limits of what should be regarded as individual variation. The resulting 

 difficulty in constructing satisfactory synoptic tables of the differences between 

 the species was increased by the decisive characters being often more accentu- 



