JKanJom loteB on latural |i0tori). 



Vol. III. PROVIDENCE, JANUARY 1, 1886. 



Entered at the Providence Post-Offiee as Second-Class Matter. 



No. 1- 



!]|aiib0m If afos on f aliiral f istori|. 



A Monthly Devoted to the Distribution of Use- 

 ful Knowledge Concerning the Various De- 

 partments of Zoology. Mineralogy, and 

 Botany. 50 Cents a Year. 

 Address all communications to 



SOUTHWICK & JENCKS, 

 258 Westminster St., Providence, R.I., U.S. A. 



The New Check-List. 



We are glad to learn, through the receipt 

 of a circular from the American Ornitholo- 

 gists' Union, that the Neio Check List and 

 Code of Noiiit^nckiture of North American 

 Birds, is about to be presented to the pub- 

 lic. This work, which will be of the high- 

 est character, representing as it does the 

 almost incessant labor for two years of an 

 able committee appointed by the Ornitholo- 

 gists' Union, will not find a place on the 

 shelves of the naturalist's libraiy, but will 

 be constantly Ij'ing on his work-table close 

 at hand. The treatment seems to us to be 

 admirable. The first part is given up to 

 the exposition of the rules of nomenclature, 

 and the second gives not only a classified 

 list of all the North American birds, but is 

 synoptic in its character, giving the names 

 of the higher groups. After each specific 

 name references are given by which its orig- 

 inal description can be found, and also ap- 

 pended to each is a brief statement of its 

 habitat. That no confusion will be expe- 

 rienced in referring to previous check-lists 

 those of Baird, Coues, and Ridgway are 

 given in full in the concordance. Though 

 the price ($3.00) may seem at first a little 

 high, it should be remembered that a first- 

 class work of such size and of limited sale, 

 is of necessity expensive. 



Wcrk of the Government Entomological 

 Division. 



Since our last issue several yearly re- 

 ports have been received, among which 

 that of the United States Commissioner of 



Agriculture, which embraces a general 

 sketch of the work done b^' the department 

 during the past year, and that proposed for 

 the ensuing is especially interesting and 

 valuable. 



The work done by the Entomological 

 Division includes the publication of several 

 bulletins which contain the results of a vast 

 amount of investigation. That the labors 

 of the board are of the highest practical 

 value is admirabh'- set forth b}' the com- 

 missioner, who thus writes : 



"The importance of the study of eco- 

 nomic entoir.ology becomes every 3'ear more 

 and more apparent. Scarcelj' an agricul- 

 tural or horticultural meeting takes place 

 but that the subject of injurious insects and 

 the best means of counteracting their rav- 

 ages occupy a large share of attention. The 

 losses occasioned b}' destructive insects to 

 the farmers of the country aggregate an 

 enormous sum, and there are few directions 

 in which the department can do more good 

 than in researches having for their object 

 the prevention of a portion of these im- 

 mense losses. The valuable results already 

 obtained in the work of the Entomological 

 Division under its present efficient manage- 

 ment are a sufficient promise of good work 

 yet to be done. 



The work of this division has greatly in- 

 creased during the jear, several new lines 

 of investigation which promise valuable re- 

 sults having been entered upon. 



The appearance of the so-called " seven- 

 teen-year locust" or periodical cicada, in 

 Ma}' and June, over a large extent of coun- 

 try, enabled the entomologist to make many 

 interesting investigations in regard to it, 

 and a bulletin (No. 8 of the prest-nt series) 

 was prepared and issued, giving a full ac- 

 count of the habits and life history of the 

 species, and a revised edition is being pre- 

 pared. 



Two other bulletins have been issued, 

 one (No. .5) treating of certain parasites 

 of injurious insects, and the other (No. 6) 

 of the imported elm-leaf beetle. This last 

 is a practical treatise of an insect that has 



