April 1891.] 



PSYCHE. 



69 



ical, fauna of the canton of Valais, compris- 

 ing the upper valley of the Rhone will be 

 found in Prof. Ed. Bugnion's Introduction to 

 Favre's Faune des col^opteres du Valais, now- 

 publishing in quarto form in the memoirs of 

 the Swiss society of natural sciences (vol. 

 31). Mr. Bugnion divides the district into 

 three regions or zones, the lower, the sub- 

 alpine or forest, and the alpine, their highest 

 levels respectively at 800, 2,000, and 2,700 

 metres; the subalpine he further subdivides 

 into a lower forest, whose upper limit 

 reaches 1,350 metres, and an upper forest 

 region, the latter characterized by the preva- 

 lence of conifers and rhododendrons. These 

 divisions, as he points out in a note, differ 

 from those of preceding authors, though not 

 very greatly from the latest authority. Heer 

 in 1837, writing for the whole of Switzerland, 

 made out seven zones, each 450 metres in 

 height after the field (campestre) which ter- 

 minated at 300 metres; the succeeding were 

 the hill or colline with an upper limit at 750, 

 the mountain (1,200), subalpine (1,650), al- 

 pine (2,100), subnivale (2,550), and nivale 

 (3,000). Rion in 1852 made four divisions 

 as follows : — 



1. Zone of cultivation, 375-1,263 m. 



2. " " conifers, 1,263-2,050 m. 



3 " " alpine pasturage, 2,050-2,760 m. 

 4. " " eternal snow, 2,769 m. upward. 

 Christ in 1883 also made four divisions: — 



1. Lower zone up to 550 r». (700 in south 

 Switzerland). 



2. Zone of deciduous trees, 550 (or 700)- 

 1,350 metres. 



3. Zone of conifers, 1,350-2,100 m. (2,300 

 in central Alps). 



4. Alpine zone, 2,100 (or 2,30o)-3,ooo m. 

 (perpetual snow). 



Professor Bugnion gives a large number of 

 groups of specific forms, mostly Coleoptera, 

 inhabiting two districts, or living under dif- 

 ferent conditions, etc., in illustration of their 

 geographical distribution, and after discuss- 

 ing at some length the geological antiquity 

 of insects endeavors to show from what 

 sources the different elements of the entomo- 



logical fauna of Valais were directly derived. 



The Abbe Provancher has completed the 

 third volume of the Faune entomologique du 

 Canada which has been appearing from time 

 to time as a supplement to his journal, Le 

 naturaliste Canadien. It is entirely devoted 

 to the Hemiptera, and makes a volume of 354 

 pages and five plates. A large number of 

 new species are described, principally from 

 the Province of Quebec ; systematic tables 

 of the groups lead to an easy determination 

 of the species. It can be obtained of the au- 

 thor at Cap Rouge. 



The volume on the Hemiptera was to be 

 followed by a serial work on the Canadian 

 Lepidoptera in the same journal by the 

 abbe Provancher; but the editor has been 

 obliged to forego his intentions as his jour- 

 nal is no longer to receive a subvention from 

 the Quebec government without which its 

 publication is impossible, and it will accord- 

 ingly cease with the end of the present vol- 

 ume in June. 



PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. 



CAMBRIDGE ENTOMOLOGICAL CLUB. 



14 December, 18S8. — The 141st meeting of 

 the Club was held at 156 Brattle St. Dr. G. 

 Dimmock was chosen chairman. 



Mr. Andrew G. Weeks was elected to ac- 

 tive membership. 



Dr. H. A. Hagen remarked on swellings 

 along the midrib of the leaves of the young 

 shoots of white oaks found by him which 

 contained hymenopterous larvae. 



Mr. S. H. Scudder showed caterpillars col- 

 lected this year, among them the adult and 

 immature larvae of Terias lisa. 



Mr. Scudder, in reply to a question in 

 regard to Anthocaris genutia, said that it 

 was only found in New England along a line 

 of trap-rock in the Connecticut valley. 



Mr. Scudder then showed plates of eggs, 

 larvae, and pupae of butterflies, from his 

 work on New England Butterflies now in 

 press, and remarked somewhat at length on 

 certain species. 



