March 'Sis] 



PSYCHE. 



215 



Mr. Scudder also made some remarks upon 

 the orthopteran genus Podisnia Latr. , going 

 to show that it should supplant Pezotettix 

 as now used, and that Pezotettix should 

 take the place of Platvphvma. 



Mr. A. G. Mayer remarked lliat lie had 

 treated the dark greenish fluid of the alimeii- 

 tarj tract of the pupae of Telca polyp/ifnuis 

 with nitric acid wliich had reacted upon it, 

 changing its color to dull led, about the 

 same shade as the ground color of the wings 

 oi Dana is archippm ; when treated with a 

 strong alkali, such as caustic potash, its 

 color changed to dark brown. His enquiry if 

 it was known wliether any of the pigments 

 were derived from this fluid led to some 

 discussion. 



Mr. Scudder recalled to the club the 

 enlarged figure of the chrysalis of a species 

 of Spalgis from Africa published by Dr. 

 Holland in the last volume of Psyche, which 

 bore a striking resemblance to an ape's face ; 

 and in connection therewith he exhibited a 

 plate of an Indian species of the same genus 

 since figured by Aitken in the Journal of the 

 Bombay Natural History Society in which 



the resemblance was even more remarkable- 

 Tills Spalgis was also aphidivorous in the 

 larval stage. 



Mr. A. P. Morse showed a specimen of 

 ' Panchlora virhlis taken at Wellesley, Mass., 

 on Dec. 12, 1^94, and also specimens of a 

 species of Scirtes which he had taken abun- 

 dantly on grape vines at Slierborn, Mass., in 

 July last. 



Mr. Scudder stated that he had received 

 this cockroach many years ago from the late 

 Dr. S. Kiieeland, taken flying in a Boston 

 store on Dec. 26, 1S7S; he had also recorded 

 its capture with the young in the bath room 

 of a house on Lafayette Sq-, Salem, Mass., 

 Aug. I, 1890, through Prof. E, S. Morse; 

 and as indicating how it reached such 

 northern localities it is worth recording 

 that it was taken in March, 1S91, by Prof. 

 Roland Thaxter on the steamship Adiron- 

 dack while on her passage from Jamaica to 

 New York. 



Mr. Mayer said that a single specimen of 

 Dniiais archippiis came on shipboard about 

 Sept. 20, 189.^, while he was cruising on the 

 banks near Sable Island. 



Just Published, by Henry Holt & Co., New York. 



Scudder's Brief Guide to the Com- 

 moner Butterflies. 



By Samuel H. Scudder. xi -|- 206 pp. 



i2mo. $1.25. 



An introduction, for the young student, to 

 the names and something of the relatio)iship 

 and lives of our commoner butterflies. The 

 author has selected for treatment the butter- 

 flies, less than one hundred in number, which 

 would be almost surely met with by an in- 

 dustrious collector in a course of a year's or 

 two year's work in our Northern States east 

 of the Great Plains, and in Canada. While 

 all the apparatus necessary to identify these 

 butterflies, in their earlier as well as perfect 

 stage, is supplied, it is far from the author's 

 purpose to treat them as if they were so many 

 mere postage-stamps to be classified and ar- 

 ranged in a cabinet. He has accordinglv 

 added to the descriptions of the difterent spe- 

 cies, their most obvious stages, some of the 

 curious facts concerning their periodicity and 

 their habits of life. 



Scudder's The Life of a Butterfly. 

 A Chapter in Natural History for 

 the General Reader. 



By S.\MUKL H. Scudder. i86 pp. i6mo. 

 $1.00. 



In this book the author has tried to present 

 in untechnical language the story of the life 

 of one of our most conspicuous American 

 butterflies. At the same time, by introduc- 

 ing into the account of its anatomv, devel- 

 opment, distribution, enemies, and seasonal 

 changes some comparisons with the more or 

 less dissimilar structure and life of other but- 

 terflies, and particularly of our native forms, 

 he has endeavored to give, in some fashion 

 and in brief space, a general account of the 

 lives of the whole tribe. By using a single 

 butterfly as a special text, one may discourse 

 at pleasure of many: and in the limited field 

 which our native butterflies cover, this meth- 

 od has a certain advantage from its simplicity 

 and directness. 



