— 104 — 



species recalls also the distant croaking of frogs in the Spring." The 

 song oi fasciatus is also a high trill continuing usually for several minutes 

 but the length of the note is very variable as is the interval between the 

 notes. It sings all day as well as all night, in the bright sunshine as 

 well as on cloudy days and in the dusk of evening. Angiistipennis has 

 a song which resembles that oS. fasciaUis in some degree, but it is very 

 much fainter and lasts only from three to five seconds with an equal 

 interval between the trills. Mr. Scudder says* of the song of niveus : 

 "The day-song of this insect is exceedingly shrill and may be repres- 

 ented by the following figure [a musical notation representing a trill] 

 though the notes vary in rapidity. When slowest they are about sixteen 

 to a second. The song is of varied length, sometimes lasting but two or 

 three seconds, sometimes continuing a minute or two uninteruptedly ; 

 it is a nearly uniform equally sustained trill, but the insect often com- 

 mences its note at a different pitch from the normal one as if it required 

 a little practice to attain it. When singing the tegmina are raised at fully 

 a right angle to the body. The night-song consists oi thrr repeated in- 

 cessantly, three parts of song and one of rest in every three seconds." 

 The "day-song" described by Mr. Scudder seems to be the song of 

 fasciatus, while the "night-song" is a good description of that oiangusti- 

 pennis. In conclusion latipennis, according to Prof Riley, generally 

 chooses the tender shoots of the grape in which to lay its eggs, while 

 niveus prefers the raspberry or blackberry, but. is much less particular 

 than the first mentioned species and frequently Liys its eggs in the tender 

 twigs of several other shrubs and trees. Both of these species as well as 

 angustipennis prefer cultivated ground, but fasciatus is comparatively 

 rare in such localities but is abundant along weedy roadsides and hedges 

 and in meadows overgrown with rank weeds. The females are abundant 

 in late Summer and early Fall on the various species of Solidago and 

 Heliaiithis particularly when these grow about the edges of meadows and 

 cornfields. Walker's species CEcanthus 7iigricornis is, I think, nothing 

 more than a long-winged dark variety of fasciatus. Specimens of the 

 latter with wings extending beyond the elytra as much as . i6 of an inch 

 are not uncommon, and as Walker"s description does not contain other 

 plain characters his name should give way to the older one of Fitch. I he 

 last of the five species referred to at the beginning of this paper is (Ecoft- 

 thus bipunctatus DeGeer. It is at once distinguished from the other 

 species of the genus by the lower margm of the lateral lobes which is 

 emarginate in the middle instead of straight or slightly convex and by the 

 spotted elytra. I am not acquainted with its song and it has never, I 

 think, been described. 



Society News. 



Brooklyn Entomological Society. — Feb.^tJi, 1888. — 16 persons present. 

 The Curators reported the arrangements tor the Exhibition of specimens on February 

 14th. Mr. Weeks gave some notes on the methods of collecting RhynchopJwra and 

 on the food habits of several species. Mr. Jiilich added notes on Aphrastus tisniatus 

 and other species observed by him. — March jth, /SSg. — 17 persons present. The 

 Report of the Exhibition Committee was presented and adopted, and considerable 

 discussion as to the cabinets and boxes to be adopted for the Society was had. A 

 large mass of routine business was disposed of. The food and other habits of local 

 Cej-ambycidcc were discussed by Messrs. Weeks, Dietz, Hulst, Angell and Meeske. 



* Boston Journal of Natural History, Vol. VII, No. IV, pp. 365 and 366. 



