410 



PSYCHE. 



[March 1893. 



is much impaired by a previous paper 

 of Brauer and Bergenstamm, published 

 in 1891, and received the latter part of 

 that year, in which some thirty or more 

 additional, old or new genera are 

 referred to North America, and which 

 must conflict more or less with Mr. 

 Townsend's genera. 



I cannot join with Mr. Townsend in 

 his sweeping condemnation of Brauer 

 and Bergenstamm's work in this family. 

 The descriptions of these authors are 

 often involved and obscure, but I believe 

 that patient study, together with ample 



material, will, almost always, solve the 

 problems which they contain. Espe- 

 cially do I think so from the fact that 

 these authors have given excellent 

 figures of most of the genera (three 

 hundred and over) known to them, and 

 figures are usually more valuable in 

 this family than extended descriptions. 

 1 by no means wish to affirm my faith 

 in the validity of many of the characters 

 used by them, but a correct interpreta- 

 tion of the value of these characters 

 will be of more service than a multi- 

 plication of genera. 



PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. 



CAMBRIDGE ENTOMOLOGICAL CLUB. 



13 January, 1893. The 175th regular and 

 17th annual meeting (since incorporation) 

 was held at 156 Brattle St. Mr. S. H. Scud- 

 der was chosen chairman. 



The annual reports of the Secretary, 

 Treasurer and Librarian were presented. 



The following officers for 1893 were 

 elected : President, W. H. Ashmead of Wash- 

 ington ; Secretary, R. Hayward ; Treasurer, 

 S. Henshaw; Librarian, S. H. Scudder; 

 members at large of the Executive Com- 

 mittee, A. P. Morse and S. H. Scudder. 



The annual address of the retiring Presi- 

 dent, Dr. W. J. Holland, on "Communal 

 cocoons and the moths that weave them" was 

 next read by Mr. Scudder in the absence of 

 the President. In this address Dr. Holland 

 erected the genus Oecura and described the 

 following new species : Oecura goodii, 

 A?iapke clara and A. subsordida. 



Mr. S. H. Scudder called attention to a 

 somewhat similar habit in one of the Mexi- 

 can Pieridae (Euckeira socialis) described by 

 Westvvood. 



Mr. H. G. Dvar said that some individuals 



of Clisiocampa usually remain in the nest 

 and undergo their transformations. 



Mr. A. P. Morse, with reference to Clisio- 

 campa, stated that he had seen a Baltimore 

 oriole {Icterus balh'more) open a nest, but 

 that it had considerable difficulty in opening 

 the cocoons contained therein. 



Further discussion followed in which all 

 participated. 



Mr. A. P. Morse read a short paper record- 

 ing the occurrence of Paroxya atlantica at 

 Faneuil Station, Mass., last summer and 

 stated that he had captured there melanistic 

 specimens. 



Foreign Notes. — Mr. Charles Brongniart 

 has succeeded Mr. H. Lucas as assistant at 

 the Paris museum in charge of the arthropods. 



We regret to record the death of the 

 veteran German lepidopterist, Dr. Adolph 

 Speyer of Rhoden, the precision of whose 

 work in the study of structure and of geo- 

 graphical distribution has had a good 

 influence in science. 



The eleventh part of Kolbe's Introduction 

 to entomology continues the internal anat- 

 omy, dealing with respiration, heat, the 

 fatty bodies and luminosity, and begins 

 upon the digestive apparatus. 



