250 JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY [Vol. 9' 



Professor James G. Needham of Cornell University visited the University of 

 Kansas, Lawrence, Kan., in November, and delivered an address before the ento- 

 mological club on "The Ecology of Certain Aquatic Larva?," and also spoke before 

 all students of biology on " The Common Ground of Poet and NaturaUst." A smoker 

 was given in the evening in honor of Professor Needham and to enable the Univer- 

 sity men to meet him. 



According to the Experiment Station Record, contracts have been awarded for the 

 new biology building at the University of Nebraska, which will house the depart- 

 ments of botany and zoology and will bear the name of Bessey Hall. The structure 

 will consist of a three-story and basement main building, 235 x 75 feet, with a short 

 wing at each end and attached greenhouses and vivaria, and will cost approximately 

 $200,000. 



Mr. George H. Corbett of Trowbridge, Wiltshire, England, who was in the United 

 States last year as a Carnegie student, has offered his services to his country for 

 entomological and hospital work at the front. While in this countr}^ Mr. Corbett 

 visited many official entomologists and experiment stations in the United States 

 and Canada and he wishes to express public^ in the Journal of Economic Ento- 

 mology his gratitude to all entomologists who gave him so much valuable assistance 

 while here. 



The Floridji Entomological Society has recently been organized at' Gainesville, 

 Fla., with fifteen charter members. The first officers elected were: Prof. J. R. 

 Watson, Entomologist of the Florida Experiment Station, president; Mr. Wilmon 

 Newell, Plant Commissioner of the Florida Plant Board, vice-president; and Mr. R. 

 N. Wilson, U. S. Bureau of Entomology, secretary-treasurer. A paper was read on 

 the Velvet Bean Caterpillar {Anticarsin r/emmatilis), by Professor Watson, and 

 another on the Fungous Diseases of Scales and White Fhes on Citrus, by Dr. E. W. 

 Berger, Entomologist of the Florida Plant Board. 



In the District of Columbia, Dr. F. H. Chittenden of the Bureau of Entomology 

 has found that the abutilon moth {Cosmophila erosa) has not appeared on abutilons 

 at all; a few have been found on hollyhocks; and four individuals were taken from 

 morning-glory. Two of these looked perfectly healthy when received, were full- 

 grown, and had the characteristic markings on the back. All four died owing to the 

 attack of the minute egg-parasite {Litomastix (Copidosoma) truncalelluvi . This 

 latter species has been very abundant during the year and has perhaps been more 

 instrumental in keeping down the numbers of the cabbage looper {Autographa 

 brassicce Riley) than any other single cause. 



Mr. D. J. Caffrey, Bureau of Entomology, reports the recovery of the parasitic 

 fly, Compsihira concinnata, from specimens of the range caterpillar taken at a 

 point where a colony of the fly was liberated during the summer of 1914. This 

 apparently indicates that the parasite has become estabUshed. Mr. Caffrey also 

 reports the range caterpillar as injuring seriously corn and other cultivated crops 

 in the vicinity of Maxwell, N. M., during the past summer. The insect. has hereto- 

 fore confined its attentions almost exclusively to the blue gramma grass of the cattle 

 ranges. 



In cooperation with the Office of Home Economics of the States Relations Service, 

 a series of experiments are being conducted by the Bureau of Entomology with a 

 colony of bees placed in a respiration calorimeter. The object of these experiments 

 is to determine the exact quantity of heat given off by the bee colony under different 



