14 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY 



in determining the species of Anthonomus, As long as there 

 was only a short series of each species, the determination was 

 in many cases easy, but as the collection grew it became more 

 and more difficult to determine certain species properly. The 

 adults vary greatly — much more than they were thought to do 

 by Dietz, and it was found that no reliance could be placed on 

 the pubescence or the color of the legs. Even the characters 

 in the second and third joints of the funicle could not be relied 

 upon, considerable individual variation being found. Doctor 

 Hopkins stated that he had found many good characters in the 

 larvae and pupse of Pissodes and in certain genera of the 

 Scolytidse. While in some cases the classification of the larvae 

 does not agree with that accepted for the adults, it does in 

 others, and in such cases serves completely to validate the 

 accepted system. 



— Mr. Barber stated that a few years ago, while working 

 upon certain of the Histeridae, he was considerably struck by 

 the great difiference in the figures of Hetcsrius hrunnipennis 

 Rand, as published by Marseul and by Horn. Photographs 

 of these figures, together with a drawing made under his super- 

 vision and a photograph of the beetle itself, were exhibited. 

 The differences are so great that it would hardly be supposed 

 that the different illustrations were' intended to be of the same 

 insect. 



Mr. Schwarz, commenting upon this exhibit, spoke of the 

 great difficulty of satisfactorily illustrating certain insects, 

 especially the more convex beetles. Drawings are very apt to 

 be of what the artist sees, rather than of the insect as it is, and 

 photographs, especially of the polished forms, are the least 

 satisfactory of all. In certain published drawings of Coccinel- 

 lidse, for instance, in which the elytra with their characteristic 

 markings are shown, the subapical appears to be apical, be- 

 cause the true apex of the elytra is invisible from the view- 

 point chosen by the artist. 



Doctor Howard, in this connection, referred to the peculiar 

 fact that illustrations of insects almost always appear smaller 

 than the scale to which they are drawn. Some years ago, in 

 order to demonstrate this, he caused to be prepared a series of 



