Ajiril^une 1SS5.I 



PS re HE. 



•297 



ENTOMOLOGICAL ITEMS. 



Mr. W. M. M.vskell has lately described 

 a curious species of coccidae from New Zea- 

 land under the name of Rkizococctts fossor. 

 The female of this species, which lives on 

 Santolum cunuiiighamii^ does not cover her- 

 self with a scale, but sinks herself bodily 

 in a circular pit in the substance of the leaf 

 and there lays her eggs. 



Entomological society of London. — 

 This society, on the fiftieth year of its ex- 

 istence, 1SS3, decided to take measures to 

 obtain a royal charter. This charter has 

 now been granted the society under date of 

 20 July 1SS5, and ensures the society a legal 

 existence and increased privileges and re- 

 sponsibilities. 



Introduction of hvmble-bees into New 

 Ze.\l.\nd. The attempts to introduce hum- 

 ble-bees {Bombtis") into New Zealand, in 

 order that they may fertilize the red clover, 

 have been hitherto unsuccessful, but this 

 year a few have been landed alive in that 

 country, having been brought in their dor- 

 mant winter condition from England, and 

 set free upon awakening. 



Election of noNOR.\RY members. At the 

 session of the Entomological society of France, 

 n March 1SS5, E. de Selys Longchamps, of 

 Liege, Belgium, S. A. de Marseul, of Paris, 

 and Dr. G. H. Horn, of Philadelphia, Pa., 

 were elected honorary members of that socie- 

 ty, and at the .session of S April 1SS5, Dr. 

 Auguste Puton, of Remiremont. France, was 

 also chosen an honorary member. 



Types of lepidopter.\ transferred 

 TO C.\mbridge. Dr. Hagen informs us that 

 the collection of lepidoptera heretofore at the 

 Peabody museum, Salem, Mass., is now in 

 his charge at Cambridge. The move is a 

 good, and very necessary one. The collec- 

 tion contains many of Dr. Packard's and some 

 of Mr. Morrison's t3'pes, and was slowly 

 going to dust and Aiithrenus when we last 

 saw it. — Entom. nmcricana, June 1SS5, v. 

 I, p. 54. 



Grote as a composer. — Mr. A : R. Grote, 

 the American lepidopterist. now residing in 

 Bremen, has not only published numerous 

 papers on moths, but several American mag- 

 azines have printed verses by him. Shortly 

 before leaving America he published a philo- 

 sophico-religious essay, and he now takes the 

 field as a composer of music, Fischer, of Bre- 

 men and New York, publishing his op. 2, 

 which consists of Vier mannerquartette, dedi- 

 cated to Herr C. O. Ruyter. 



Chevrcjlat's collection of coleopte- 

 RA. — The large collection of coleoptera be- 

 longing to the late Auguste Chevrolat is 

 offered for sale, divided into families, by H. 

 Deyrolle et Cie, of Paris. The prices vary 

 from 10 francs for the box of ikorictniac, of 

 which there are 11 species represented by 30 

 specimens, up to 9000 francs for the ciircul- 

 ioiiidae which are represented by 9000 species 

 and 29000 specimens. The collection of cur- 

 cidiouidae is said to be the largest excepting 

 tliat of the nuLseum at Brussels. 



Specimens faded by exposure to light. 

 — At a recent meeting (July 2) of the Lon- 

 don entomological society, Mr. C. O. Water- 

 house exhibited various species of phytopha- 

 gous beetles to show the extraordinary eft'ect 

 that exposure to light had produced on their 

 colors. Fiery red had turned to bright 

 green, pale yellow to brown, blue to black, 

 and green to purple. The specimens ex- 

 hibited had been in the public galleries of 

 the Bristol museum for twenty-five 3'ears. — 

 Amcr. naturalist, ']an. 1885, v. 19, p. So. 



Trimerous silphidae. — Mr. D. Sharp 

 describes a new species of the genus Scoto- 

 cryftus [silphidae) in the Comptes-rendus 

 de la Societe enlomologique de Belgique for 

 7 Feb. 1SS5. This species, S. obscurics, like 

 5. mclipoiiae, the one on which Girard 

 founded the genus in 1874, is from Bahia, 

 South America. The species of Scotociyp- 

 tiis are blind, but are still more interesting 

 structurally from the fact that they have all 

 the tarsi three-jointed, a character not com- 

 mon among coleoptera and otherwise un- 



