iSgi.] ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. 213 



Mr. Ulke exhibited and remarked on the habits ol a number of rare or 

 new aquatic Coleoptera found by him the past Summer in the Blue Ridge 

 Mountains, near Monterey, Md. 



Mr. Ulke also exhibited a pale larviform female of a species of Phen- 

 godes which he found abundantly in the Blue Ridge Mountains, no males, 

 however, being discovered. The species was thought, by Prof. Riley, to 

 be Ph. laticollis, and the relative abundance of the males and females of 

 Phengodes was discussed by Riley and others. 



Mr. Schwarz exhibited specimens of Emphylus americanus taken by 

 H. H. Hubbard and himself in a coXowy oi Formica sanguinea near Alta, 

 Utah, at an elevation of about 9000 feet. 



Mr. Ashmead read a paper on the peculiar Chalcid genus Melitobia 

 ■ Westw., in which he discussed (i) its synonymy with Anthophorabia 

 Newport, concluding that Melitobia should take precedence; (2) its struc- 

 ture and position in a classificatory system, deciding that it belongs to the 

 subfamily Tetrastichinae and not with the Elachistinae, where it is now 

 placed; and (3) its habits, recording the rearing of M. megachilis Pack, 

 from Megachile ceniuncularis Linn., M. pelopcei h.%\\vs\. from Celopceus 

 iementaria in Kansas by Prof. Popenoe and in Florida by himself; and a 

 new species which he described as M. chalybii, bred from the cells of 

 Chalybeon cosruleutn taken in Maryland. 



Discussed by Messrs. Howard, Theo. Gill, Riley, Schwarz and others. 



Dr. Marx presented a paper entitled " Preliminary Notes on the Classi- 

 fication of the Ixodidae," in which he discussed the views of previous 

 authors on the classification of these parasites and concluded to accept 

 with some modification the scheme of Koch as follows: Order, Acari; 

 Suborder, Cynorhastes; Tribe I, Cetocari with families, Argasidae and 

 Eschaetorephalidae ; Tribe II, Autiocari with families Haemelastaridae, 

 Ixodidae and Rhipistomidae. 



The paper also included generic synopses of the genera of the several 

 families. The scheme differs from Koch's in adding one new family, and 

 suppressing one genus and adding three new ones. The paper was dis- 

 cussed by Prof. Gill and others. 



Mr. Howard read a note on the " Appearance of Mealy Bugs parasitized 

 by Leptomastix," in which he referred to the habits of the species of this 

 Encytrid genus of Chalcid parasites, and said that his attention had been 

 recently called by Miss Sullivan to the curious fact that Mealy Bugs para- 

 sitized by L. dactylopii almost entirely lose their waxy secretion and swell 

 up into yellow objects closely resembling dipterous puparia, which resem- 

 blance is heightened by the fact that the parasite in issuing cuts free a cap 

 at the end of the scale just as the Dipterous insect forces off the end of 

 its puparium. Discussed my Messrs. Riley, Ashmead and Howard. 



Prof Femow gave a report on the results in Europe of the use of the 

 new insect lime against Psilura monacha the use of which he stated had 

 been a perfect success. He described the process of quarantining infested 

 areas by surrounding them with poles which are then smeared with the 



