205 



Dec. 1897] Proceedings of the Society. 



Fig. 3 Cv//.«^/eVM Drury. Fig. 5. Valgus canaliculaius Yzh 



Fig 4 Cyllene robini^ Forst. Fig. 6. Cryptorhynchus lapathi Gyll. 



All figures are slightly enlarged, and drawn from nature by Miss Lydia M. 

 Hart, under supervision. 



PROCEEDINGS OF THE NEW YORK ENTOMOLOGI- 

 CAL SOCIETY. 



Meeting of April 20, 1897. 



Held at the American Museum of Natural History. 

 Vice-President Dr. Love in the chair. Thirteen members present. 

 The Publication Committee reported that a lecture, by Prof. L. A. Best, had 

 been given and called attention to the next by Dr. E. G. Love, to be held Apr.l 24th. 

 A vote of thanks was given to Professor Lyman A. Best for his lecture given 



before the Society. 



Mr Joutel spoke on the breeding habits of beetles. He stated that each species 

 always worked in the same way, and that some larvae live only on the sap that they 

 cause to flow from their wounding the trees and so renders it impossible to raise them 

 in the breeding box. He exhibited a collection of fifty species mostly Longicorns 

 bred by him, among which were CaUidmm anlmnatum, four species of Elaphtdiou, 

 He/erachthes 4-maculatus, Phy ton pallidum, Stcnosphenus notatus, Cyllene pictus, A. 

 colonus, two species oiEuderces, Leptura emarginata, L. lineola, Cryptophor us verru- 

 cosus, Saperda pundicollis, moesla, discoidea and obliqua, Elasmocerus ternunatus and 



Ichnea laticollis. r , ht i 



Dr H G. Dyar spoke on the morphology of the abdominal legs of the Megalo- 

 pygidK ' He showed that there were two sets of legs of different functions, first, the 

 ordinary legs with hooks on abdominal segments 3 to 6 and 10, used for prehension, 

 and second, a series of paired soft pads oh segments 2-7 used as sucking disks for ad- 

 hering to smooth surfaces. The structuie is peculiar and proves interesting as lead- 

 ing up to the creeping disks of the Eucleida. where the prehensile legs have dis- 

 appeared and the disk is formed by an extension of these short pads. 



Mr R. L. Ditmars read a paper entitled " Spiders," in which he gave a short 

 history of their classification and structure, together with a sketch of their habits and 

 uses He called attention to their poison glands and fangs and compared them with 

 those of the poisonous snakes. He illustrated their webs and explained their mode of 

 construction. 



Meeting of May 4, 1897. 



Held at the American Museum of Natural History. 

 President Palm in the chair. Ten members present. 



A vote thanks was given to Dr. E. G. Love for his lecture on the " Study of 

 Insects and their Transformations," delivered on April 24ih. 



