PSTOCHE. 
ENTOMOLOGICAL ITEMS. 
THE POSSIBILITY and frequent occurrence 
of retardation of development in eggs of 
insects by exposure to cold has been applied, 
as an invention, to retarding the development 
of the eggs from which silkworms are to be 
hatched. While such an application of the 
principle may be of great service in belated 
seasons or years unpropitious to the rearing 
of worms, its inventor can hardly claim much 
originality. 
THE SECRETARY of the Smithsonian insti- 
tution and director of the U. S. national 
museum, announces that Dr. C: V. Riley has 
deposited in that museum his private collec- 
tion, comprising about 30,000 species and 
more than 150,000 specimens of all orders of 
insects, and has been appointed honorary 
curator of insects. This collection is in 
admirable condition, with the determined 
species duly labeled and classified, but is 
chiefly valuable for the large amount of 
material in it, illustrating the life-histories, 
habits, and economy of species, 3000 of which 
are represented in one or all of the prepara- 
tory states, either in liquid, in separate 
boxes, or blown and mounted dry with the 
imagines. Fifteen blank books are filled with 
notes and descriptions of these species, most 
of them yet unpublished. Though several 
special collections surpass this in a single 
order, few, if any, general collections of North 
American insects equal it, and perhaps none 
from the biological point of view. 
The director hopes, in time, with so good 
a beginning, to bring together a truly na- 
tional exposition of the insect fauna of the 
country, and for this purpose asks his cor- 
respondents especially for specimens of in- 
sects in their adolescent states in connection 
with their mature forms, whenever possible, 
together with all material exemplifying the 
transformations, architecture, and economy 
of species, and also invites persons engaged 
in descriptive entomology to deposit in the 
museum types or duplicates of their described 
species. 
315 
SOCIETY MEETINGS. 
THE REGULAR Meetings of the Cambridge 
Entomological Club will be held at 7.45 p.m., 
on the days following :— 
14 Oct. 1881. 10 Mar. 1882. 
11 Nov. ‘ rival JAB) nee 
obec > izMay ‘‘ 
13 Jan. 1882. Ome s 
TOvMe Dem 
B: PIcKMAN MANN, Secretary. 
THE REGULAR meetings of the Entomologi- 
cal Section of the Boston Society of Natural 
History will be held at N. W. corner of Berke- 
ley and Boylston Sts., Boston, Mass., at 7.45 
p-m., on the days following : — 
26 Oct. 1881. 22 Feb. 1882. 
22 NOVen 22) Nar. ic 
RO OCC: sane Z6eXpr. | “ 
25 Jan. 1882. 24. May  ** 
B: PicKMAN MAnn, Secretary. 
THE REGULAR meetings of the Entomolog- 
ical Section of the Academy of Natural Sci- 
ences, of Philadelphia, Pa., will be held at 
S. W. corner of 19th and Race Sts., on the 
days following :— 
14 Oct. 1881. 10 Mar. 1882. 
TE INOY=s 4a 14gA pre, 4° 
(0) Dives. 6 1yMay  ‘* 
13 Jan. 1882. @fune-** 
TOMBeD. 5 c. 
James H. RIpINGs, /tecorder. 
THE SEMI-ANNUAL meetings of the Amer- 
ican Entomological Society will be held at 
S. W. corner of 19th and Race Sts., Philadel- 
phia, Pa., on the days following :— 
12 Dec: 1881. 12 June 1882. 
James H. Ripincs, fec. Sec’y. 
THE REGULAR monthly meetings of the 
Montreal Branch of the Entomological So 
ciety of Ontario, will be held at Montreal. 
Que., Canada, on the days following :— 
6 Sept. 1881. 3 Jan. 1882. 
AOck, >" Tapieb. “<< 
TANGY: 8. °° vaNlar:. *é 
00) CC appre. < 
G: H. Bow.es, Secretary. 
PRIZE ESSAYS. 
Dvu_E 15 Oct. 1882.—Life-histories of Sc/e- 
rostoma syngamus and of Strongilus pergra- 
cilis. See PSYCHE, V. 3, p- 59- 
