Be Y CEH, 
CAMBRIDGE, MASS., JULY 1882. 
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CORRESPONDENCE. 
Hasits or Turirs. 
Possibly the readers of Psycure may be inter- 
ested in an observation that I have recently 
made upon the food-habits of Thrips, which, 
though it may have been noticed often, I do not 
find recorded in works at hand. 
A few days since, finding Thrips (a species of 
Phloeothrips of which I find no description) very 
abundant in all the fruit blossoms that I exam- 
ined, I was led to notice more particularly their 
method of work, and soon became convinced that 
they were doing much damage by preventing 
fertilization, as their injuries to the tender style 
would cut off all communication between the 
stigma and the ovary. A careful examination 
_of a number of unopened buds revealed the fact 
_ that in eighty per cent of them the style had been 
_ more or less injured by biting and puncturing, 
_ while the great number of Thrips present could 
leave no doubt that they were the authors of the 
mischief. In the majority of the buds examined 
the styles seemed to be injured far moré than 
any of the other parts of the blossom. Less than 
ten per cent of the buds examined contained 
larvae of Tortricidae. Of the remaining buds a 
small percentage contained no Thrips, perhaps 
because they were not quite so far advanced as 
the other buds. The Thrips probably enter the 
buds as soon as they can crowd in between the 
overlapping petals. 
If the habits of Thrips are, in general, as des- 
cribed above they have an economic as well as 
a scientific interest. 
Ames, Iowa, 25 May 1882. 
Flerbert Osborn. 
PSYCHE. 
369 
PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. 
CampBripGe EnromoroGcicaL Crus. 
(Continued from p. 328.) 
10 Fen. 1882.— 82nd meeting. Mr. S: H. Seud- 
der exhibiteda copy of Brongniart’s recent paper 
on fossil insects forming an Annexe to Andrée’s 
work on hymenoptera, in which are discussed the 
fossil hymenoptera of the periods since the lias. 
He also showed a proof page of his own index 
to zoological genera, explaining the plan of the 
work. Mr. Scudder called attention to the very 
low prices at which the collections of coleoptera 
of Mr. E: P. Austin and of the late Mr. G: D. 
Smith were offered for sale. 
Mr. 8: H. Scudder exhibited a drawing illus. 
trating the wing of a heteropterous insect from 
carboniferous strata, of a period earlier than any 
in which heteroptera had been found. He also 
showed a very perfect carboniferous cockroach. 
Mr. W: Trelease remarked on the part that 
insects play in the pollination of New Zealand 
flowers, with reference to what has been pub- 
lished on the subject, especially to the commnu- 
nications of Charles Darwin and G. Thomson. 
Mr. R. Hayward spoke of the insects—carabi- 
dae, dytiscidae, Aphodius and notonectidae—found 
in the stomach of a kingfisher (Ceryle alcyon) in 
Maine, last summer. Attention was drawn to 
the large proportion of carabidae. 
10 Marcu 1882.— 83rd meeting. Mr. A. P. 
Chadbourne, of Cambridge, Mass., was elected a 
member. The constitution and by-laws of the 
Club were amended. [See p. 335.] 
Mr. S: H. Seudder showed a paper by Dr. 
Fritsch, of Prag, on a fossil ephemerid and on 
other fossil insects, commenting on the paper 
and calling attention to the figures of cretaceous 
insects as being almost the first insects of this 
period figured, and forming an important contri- 
bution to our knowledge of fossil insects. 
Mr. S: H. Seudder showed figures of American : 
tertiary ephemeridae from Florissant, Col., show- 
ing that in the form of the body, in the stoutness 
of the legs, and in the respiratory apparatus they 
differ strikingly from living forms. Remarks 
were also made on the first fossil lepismid, show- 
ing to what extent it differs from living lepis- 
mids. Mr. Scudder also showed the first early 
pretertiary insect found in Colorado, discovered 
near Fairplay. 
