12 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY 



to the hairs and crawling- about amongst them. It ilkistrates 

 the general rule, that like necessities bring about like develop- 

 ment of certain characters in order to meet them. 



Mr. Banks noted that individuals belonging to the Polyc- 

 tenidse, Streblidas, and Nycteribiidae infest the same species 

 of bats, and that all three may occur together. 



— Mr. Schwarz, in the name of Mr. Caudell, exhibited a 

 box containing specimens of a rare form of earwig,^ belonging 

 to the genus Discritina of Westwood. These insects were 

 first described as larvae, and differ so radically in form from 

 other earwigs that they were supposed by Westwood to be the 

 type of what might possibly be an order. Green, in Ceylon, 

 was the first to rear them, and to determine their true affinity. 

 The specimens exhibited were collected by Mr. Barber in 

 Guatemala under old banana leaves. In this connection Mr. 

 Schwarz spoke of the infinite number of forms of insects 

 which were found under these leaves, including representa- 

 tives of nearly all orders. 



— Mr. Burke exhibited specimens of the large barkbeetles of 

 the genus Dendroctonus, and remarked upon their peculiar 

 ability to nip off hair. If held in the fingers, and a hair 

 passed between their mandibles, they will cut it off cleanly, 

 and continue to do so as fast as it is fed to them. This 

 characteristic was discovered by the lumbermen, who have 

 bestowed on these beetles the name " clipping bugs." Several 

 species of the genus, including D. monticola Hopk., D. valens 

 Lee. and D. brevicomis Lee, are possessed of the faculty. 



February 7, 1907. 



The 2iith regular meeting was held at the residence of Mr. 

 A. L. Quaintance, 1807 Phelps Place, N. W. President Hop- 

 kins was in the chair and there were present Messrs. Barber, 

 Bishopp, Burke, Condit, Crawford, Davis, Dyar, Fiske, Gill, 

 Howard, Hunter, Johnson, Knab, Lawford, Marlatt, Moulton, 

 Pierce, Quaintance, Sanders, Sasscer, Schwarz, Spooner, 



" Mr. Caudell has recorded this species as Diplatys severa Bormans 

 (Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., Vol. xxxin, p. 169, 1907.) — Pub. Com. 



