176 Forty-first Report on the State Museum. 



southern races of the insects from one portion of the country to the other, as a test of 

 the influence of climate upon the developmental period. 



In the Fourteenth Annual Report of the Geological and Natural History Survey of 

 Minnesota, Mr. 0. W. Oestlund has contributed a List of the. Aplddidw of 3Iinnesota, in 

 which seventy-one species are recorded, of which twenty-four species are described as 

 new, and two new genera named. 



Among other contributors to the order, are Mr. Wm. H. Ashmead, Prof. E. W. Claypole, 

 and Mr. John J. Jack. 



In the NEUROPTEUA, Dr. Hagen has contributed the European literature of the 

 Hemerobius dipterus, of which twenty examples are in collections in Europe, and four, so 

 far as known taken in this country, referring to this species Dr. Fitch's type of 

 H. delicatulus (Entomologica Americana, ii, p. 21). 



Mr. J. A. Moffat has narrated some interesting habits of a Myrmeleon larva (Canad. 

 Entom., xviii, p. 76). 



Two elaborate papers from Dr. Hagen are additions of much importance to the 

 literature of the Pseudoneuroptera. The first is a Monograph of the Earllei- Stages of 

 Odonata (in forty-three pages), in which forty-eight species in the subfamilies of 

 Gomphina and Gordulegastrina are described (Trans. Amer. Entomol. Soc, xii, pp. 

 249-291). The second is a Monograph of the Emhidiria, and is apparently one of the most 

 careful and painstaking of the erudite author's publications. Not only is each one of 

 the seventeen species minutely described (six pages in some instances are devoted to a 

 single species) but the history of the family is fully presented together with an extended 

 discussion of its characters with reference to its assignment to its proper systematic 

 position, which is held by the writer to be near the Teinnltidcg. (Canad. Entom., xvii, 1885, 

 Aug., Sept., Oct., and Nov.). 



Of writings upon the ORTHOPTERA, I find only a Listoftlie Orthopiera of Kansas, by 

 Lawrence Bruner, and a note on the habits of (Ecanthus, by E. W. AUis. 



A resume of our knowledge of Fossil Insects has been published by Mr. Scudder, in a 

 volume of 113 pages, entitled Systematisdie Uehersicld de7- Fossile7i Myriopoden, Arach- 

 noideen, und Insekten. It presents an excellent and comprehensive view of our knowledge 

 of these interesting forms, under a systematic arrangement, with definition of groups 

 and abundant illustration. It is understood tlfat it will be republished in this country. 



Mr. Scudder is at present engaged upon an extensive work as it will necessarily be, 

 descriptive of the fossil insects taken from the wonderfully prolific locality, the Tertiary 

 Lake Basin at Florissant, in Colorado. It is thought that the first part of this work 

 will be ready for publication the coming year. 



The contributions to which we have I'eferred in the several Orders, have been descrip- 

 tive, classificatory, historical, biological, histological, anatomical, and biographical. It 

 would perhaps have been more satisfactory if these several departments of study could 

 have been separately reviewed, but the time has not been found for such presentation. 



Publications in Economic Entomology. 



In consideration of the practical importance of economic investigations, will you per- 

 mit me to direct your attention to some of the work done in this direction, which has 

 been given to us during the year: 



The Fourteenth Report on the Noxious and Beneficial Insects of Illinois, by the State Ento- 

 mologist, Prof. S. A. Forbes, is devoted to the consideration of various insects infesting 

 corn, wheat, grass, clover, the maple, the elm, garden-crops, and orchards. A valuable 

 appendix to this report is a general index to the first twelve Illinois reports — in three 

 parts, viz., of the species of insects alphabetically and systematically arranged, their 

 food-plants, and the remedies treated of. 



The Report of the Entomologist of the IT. S. Beparttnent of Agriculture, Prof. C. V. Riley, 

 for the year 1885, presents us with the latest information upon progress in Silk Cul- 

 ture in the United States ; an extended notice of Cicada septendecim; and notices of recent 

 injuries l3y five other species of insects. Addenda to this report are the following: 

 Report on the Locusts of the San Joaquin Valley, Cal., by D. W. Coauillett; Report on 



