- optera. 
ENTOMOLOGICAL ITEMS. 
Tue MINISTER of public works in Mexico has 
issued a circular encouraging silk growing in 
the republic. 
Tue party press for 11 Nov. 1882 reports se- 
rious complaints, from Mansorah, Egypt, of 
worms in the cotton. 
Mr. J. A. Watson reports, in The entomologist 
for November 1882, a case of parthenogenesis in 
Anarta myrtill’, an English species of noctuidae. 
MALEBRANCHE DECLARES that he puts the 
observation of an insect above all the history 
of Greece and Rome.—Barnard’s Journ. of ed- 
ucation, v. 30, p. 721. 
Mr. J. E. Taytor, inanote in Nature, 14 Sept. 
1882, writes that he thinks the wings of pteropho- 
ridae mimic the down or pappi of the seeds of 
thistles or of other compositae. 
Mr. Isrart C. Carpenter, of Cherry Creek, 
Chautauqua Co., N. Y., has rendered a service to 
silk-growers in this country by manufacturing a 
good quality of perforated paper for use in trans- 
ferring the worms from tray to tray. 
We Are glad ‘to publish in this numero an 
article by one of our German subscribers, Dr. O. 
Krancher, and hope that other correspondents in 
foreign countries as well as at home will remem- 
ber that Psycue is open to all communications 
of a like high class. 
Mr. Cuas. Spiess, apothecary, Porrentruy, 
Switzerland, would be glad to exchange cole- 
| optera and lepidoptera of Europe, especially of 
Switzerland, for American and tropical cole- 
Many alpine species for disposal, all in 
excellent condition. Please send lists of dupli- 
cates. 
THERE HAs just been published an elaborate 
work on the present state of silk-worm culture 
in southern Russia and Trans-Caucasia, giving 
an accurate description of the whole of the cul- 
ture, and a complete bibliography of works on 
the subject that have appeared since 1703. It is 
published in connection with the Moscow Exhib- 
_ ition, by the Moscow Agricultural Society, with 
‘ many plates of drawings.— Nature, 7 Sept. 1882, 
PSYCHE. 
371 
GEHE’s TRADE-REPORT for September notes 
that this year’s (1882) crop of cantharides is re- 
ported to be much smaller than last year’s, and, 
as only small quantities of last year’s crop remain 
on hand the price is certain to rise. The crop of 
Dalmatian insect-powder flowers (Pyrethrum) has 
been very large this year, and as a large amount 
is still on hand from last year’s crop and the 
demand is not very great, the price is likely to 
be lower than ever before. 
Tue LEAVENWORTH TIMES tells a story which 
is calculated to shake the public faith in its 
truthfulness, to the effect that in blasting a large 
limestone rock at Emporia lately, a small cavity 
was disclosed which was found to contain a little 
worm apparently bleached white and lifeless. 
But it is now fast developing into a butterfly, is 
half an inch long, is of a brownish color and 
ribbed across the back, and “is doing some live- 
ly wiggling.” The block of stone was quarried 
about 20 feet below the surface.—Springfield 
[Mass.] daily republican, 30 Sept. 1882. 
The above nonsense, taken at random from a 
considerable number of equally absurd state- 
ments clipped from newspapers, convinces us 
that scientific editors are too little employed 
in this country. G: D. 
Ar THE October meeting of the Cambridge 
Entomological Club Mr. George Dimmock was 
elected secretary and Mr. B. Pickman Mann 
treasurer, Mr. William Trelease, the late secre- 
tary-treasurer, having resigned on account of his 
removal to Madison, Wisconsin. The election 
of a separate secretary and treasurer, instead of 
one person holding both offices as heretofore, 
will give these officers time to do much more for 
the Club. The Club will take steps toward in- 
creasing its activity and usefulness during 1883. 
Among other projects concerning which all the 
members will soon recieve circulars is the issuing 
of a printed annual report for 1882, which will 
contain the constitution, by-laws, list of mem- 
bers and of contributors to the Permanent Pub- 
lication Fund, and many other matters of interest 
concerning the Club. 
AT THE regular quarterly meeing of the Board 
of State Horticultural Commissioners of Califor- 
nia, 28 Sept. 1882... . a communication was read 
from the Viticultural Commission recommend- 
