Sept., 1913.] Proceedings of the Society. 279 



elongated to permit of oviposition in such a deep funnel as the environment 

 requires, the cockroaches, earwigs, katydid-like insects, beetles, etc., inhabiting 

 the same, are grouped into a unit consisting of various organisms found 

 together and under the same environment. 



Mr. Engelhardt exhibited the thorn and fruit of an Acacia from Guatemala 

 with several specimens of Briichus he had found in the seeds, a species very 

 similar if not identical with our Spermophagus robinia. 



Mr. Barber, after showing a new binder for pamphlets, said that the 

 Homoptera were almost exclusively plant feeders but the Heteroptera exhib- 

 ited more differentiation, many being predaceous, and all the aquatic forms 

 undoubtedly carnivorous. Of fungus feeders only the Aradidse could possibly 

 be cited, and those with some doubt on his part. 



Mr. Davis exhibited a number of galls caused by the irritation of the 

 Cecidomyid larvae, and commented on the judgment with which the female 

 always laid an appropriate number of eggs. He spoke of a gall on Rudbeckia 

 as large as a man's fist sheltering insects of three orders, including the 

 Hymenoptera parasitic on the other insects, and particularly of oak galls and 

 rose galls, commenting on the two kinds of oak galls shown and the ten species 

 of rose galls known to him. In conclusion he called attention to the erroneous 

 figure on page 599 of Smith's List and the misleading statements sometimes 

 made in reference to female gall insects. 



Mr. Grossbeck said that almost all Lepidoptera fed on leaves, about 200 

 being known as borers in roots and stems and in addition perhaps half the 

 Tineids being leaf miners or feeders on dried fruits and other dry vegetable 

 matter. He spoke of the preference for oak, willow, poplar, wild cherry, etc., 

 exhibited by Lepidoptera and comparative disfavor in which sycamore, beech 

 and alder are held, while the Noctuidae particularly affect herbaceous plants 

 and grasses. 



Dr. Osburn, speaking of the Syrphids, instanced Volucella as feeding on 

 soft-bodied cacti, Microdon in bulbs of Narcissus and Eiimerus in onion bulbs, 

 and referred to the variation in size noted in Pemphus. 



Mr. Leng, replying to Dr. Lutz's criticism, said that such associations 

 as the Bromeliad insects exhibited no parallel adaptations of structure to 

 justify regarding them as a natural society. The student of plant societies 

 had been able to trace such adaptations in the various members of the societies 

 they had recognized, and became thereby justified in doing so. The bond they 

 had chosen as their principal guide, the moisture of the soil, having failed in 

 beetles, the coleopterist must try others, and may find a satisfactory substitute 

 in food, though it must be admitted that as a bond it will not produce units 

 tied to a particular plant, but rather to the same parts of different plants. 



Mr. Weeks expressed some doubt as to the value of such discussions which 

 he said by minute subdivision might be prolonged indefinitely, but suggested 

 that if concentrated on such an economic subject as the enemies of the house 

 fly, might become of some practical value. 



Mr. Davis exhibited insects caught on a walk taken by Mr. Engelhardt 

 and himself from Central Park to Massepequa, Long Island, on April 6, espe- 



