278 Journal New York Entomological Society, t^'o'- -^-"^i- 



work of Dr. Sandor Gorka on the alimentary canal, and pointed out that three 

 primary classes, beetles feeding on decaying substances, beetles feeding on 

 living plants, and beetles feeding on living animals, could be recognized and 

 correlated with different types of digestive system as well as with differences 

 in external structure. In each of the three classes, aquatic and terrestrial 

 divisions would be found, with well-marked adaptive structures, and in each 

 would also be found more or less developed parasitic forms, also characterized 

 by structural adaptations. Societies of species, similar to those discovered in 

 plants, could be defined by the parallel adaptations of their external and 

 internal structures, but such would be found to revolve about the food habit 

 rather than considerations of moisture. 



Mr. Davis, commenting upon these statemens, said that Carabidae and 

 Cerambycidse, though contrasted by Mr. Leng in respect of food habit, were 

 equally attracted by sugar bait. 



Dr. Osburn said the Gorka statement that the longest alimentarj^ canal in 

 beetles was correlated with the least nutritious food was corroborated by the 

 known fact that in fishes the purely herbivorous fishes have a long alimentary 

 canal, and in one species it is so long that it is wrapped many times about 

 the air bladder. 



Mr. Davis said that ants extract the liquid diet they require from both 

 animal and vegetable matter. 



Mr. Weeks said that the Carabidse found at sugar were predaceous insects 

 and that he had often seen Calosoina attack other insects attracted by sugar. 



Dr. Lutz called attention to the List of Food Plants compiled by Mr. 

 Mutchler along the lines suggested some time ago by Dr. Southwick, in which 

 the insects attacking each plant are listed as well as the plants attacked by 

 each species. Commenting upon Mr. Leng's paper Dr. Lutz said the great 

 difficulty was that no society governed by local environment would be con- 

 stituted on the lines suggested, the only approach to such being the recognition 

 of two main environments in the aquatic and terrestrial divisions. The im- 

 portance of food as one of the factors must be admitted, but only as one of 

 many, and certainly not to the exckision of moisture, light and probably other 

 influences that had not been mentioned. Continuing, Dr. Lutz said that whjle 

 the word societies had been used in a broad sense, the word association had 

 been used for more limited groups and in illustration spoke of the various 

 species of insects associated with the pitcher plant, which offered opportunities 

 for further interesting work. 



Another interesting example could be found in the Bromeliad insects, in 

 connection with which he referred to the paper in the Annals and Magazine 

 of Natural History, by Scott, Distant and Shelford, in which the small bodies 

 of rain water and condensed dew retained by the curious funnel-like, closely 

 fitting leaf bases of these plants (of which the pineapple is an example) are 

 compared to " a great fractional swamp spread all over tropical America," in 

 the words of Picado. He also referred to Calvert's paper on Costa Rican 

 Odonata in Entomological News, dealing with the same subject; and said 

 that the dragon fly breeding in these places, with the female body greatly 



