May i88S.] 



PSYCHE. 



59 



ENTOMOLOGICAL ITEMS. 



Sphingidae of North America. — The 

 American entomological society will issue 

 shortly a monograph of the sphitigidae of 

 America north of Mexico, by Mr. John B. 

 Smith. 



Pupa of Danais archippus. — A paper, by 

 Mr. J. H. Emerton, describing the anatomy 

 of the chrysalis of Danais archifftis will ap- 

 pear in an early numero of the Memoirs of 

 the Boston society of natural history. A 

 plate will illustrate the paper. 



A NEW appointment. — Mr. Clarence M. 

 Weed, for some time an assistant of Prof. S. 

 A. Forbes, at Champaign, 111., has been ap- 

 pointed entomologist to the Ohio agricultural 

 experiment station, at Columbus, Ohio, 

 where all correspondence for him should be 

 addressed. 



Aphididae and their food-pi,ants. — 

 Bulletin no. 4 of the Geographical and nat- 

 ural history survey of Minnesota contains a 

 synopsis of the aphididae of the state by 

 Prof. O. W. Oestlund. A list of North Amer- 

 ican plants with species of aphididae known 

 to attack them is added. 



A new elementary entomology. — Prof. 

 A. S. Packard has prepai-ed an Entomo- 

 logy for beginners, which will be published in 

 June by Henry Holt and company. The book 

 Avill contain brief descriptions of the prin- 

 cipal families of all orders, followed by direc- 

 tions for collecting and preserving insects, a 

 chapter on injurious insects, &c. The work 

 w'ill be fully illustrated. 



Color-preference in Anthrenus. — The 

 following curious note is taken from a paper 

 by John B. Smith, entitled, "Some observa- 

 tions on museum pests" (Proc. Entom. soc. 

 Washington, 1887, v. i, no. 2), p. 115. 



"As a rule Anthrenus can hardly be con- 

 sidered fastidious, but occasionally they man- 

 ifest color preferences. In one specimen of 

 Grapta interrogaiionis the black spots bor- 

 dering on the costa were neatly cut out, no 

 other portion of the wiftg-being touched. Its 



career was suddenly cut short before it had 

 quite finished one wing, and I now regret 

 that I did not allow it to continue its work to 

 note whether it would have attacked the 

 other wing in the same manner." 



On the sexes of lepidopterous larvae. — 

 Mr. J. A. Weniger, in an article with the 

 above title, published in the Entomologist for 

 April 18S7, states that the sex of some of the 

 larvae of Attacus can be distinguished, in the 

 later larval stages, by examination of the 

 under side of the last segment that bears stig- 

 mata. In the female, on the middle of the 

 ventral side of this segment, there is a dark 

 blotch, in natural size not larger than the 

 head of a pin, and the middle of this blotch 

 has a yellowish tint. In the male the same 

 blotch is present, but its "middle is a dark 

 green spot, which gives the appearance of a 

 hole: this is only from the internal organs, 

 and is a liquid substance ; for should a larvae 

 of each sex be killed and emptied, nothing of 

 the signs will remain." Mr. E: B. Poulton, 

 in a note following Mr. Weniger's communi- 

 cation thinks it should be confirmed by fur- 

 ther observation, but adds : "It is quite clear 

 that, as Mr. Weniger implies, the markings 

 have not the value of external organs of re- 

 production, but if their presence is confirmed 

 they will prove to be the blind terminations 

 of the ducts of the sexual glands, which should 

 be found beneath the cuticle at this very spot, 

 as Herold showed, in the case of the larva of 

 Pieris brassicae, towards the beginning of 

 this century." 



Household pests. — The publishers of 

 Good housekeeping (Springfield, Mass.) offer 

 four prizes, each of twenty-five dollars, for 

 recipes or treatment against household pests. 

 The first prize is for an exterminator for the 

 so-called Buffalo-bug {Anthrenus scrophu- 

 lariae), the second for the bed-bug {Citnex 

 lectularius), the third for moths, and the 

 fourth for files and fleas. The mode of treat- 

 ment will be published in Good housekeeping, 

 "and afterwards have a test of merit at the 



