ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS 



AND 



PROCEEDINGS OF THE ENTOMOLOGICAL SECTION 



ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES, PHILADELPHIA. 



Vol. v. FEBRUARY, 1894. No. 2. 



CONTENTS: 



Wickham— Habits of some Oceanic Economic Entomology 44 



Hemiptera 33 Notes and News 47 



Wiley— Butterflies of Miles City, Mont. 36 Entomological Literature 51 



Holland— Small coll. of Butterflies, etc. 39 Entomological Section 57 



Wenzel—Hispini found in New Jersey. 40 Holland— West African Dysgoniidse.... 57 



Horn— Synonymical notes 41 Cockerell-New scale insect on Agave. 59 



Editorial 42 Dyar—Desc. of certain Geom. Larvae... 60 



ON THE HABITS OF SOME OCEANIC HEMIPTERA. 



By H. F. Wickham, Iowa City, Iowa. 



The pelagic oceanic Hemiptera have possessed great interest 

 for naturalists since their first description by Eschscholtz in 1822. 

 The fact of their being found usually far from land and appearing 

 only in pleasant weather has tended to cause a scarcity in collec- 

 tions and comparatively few entomologists have had an oppor- 

 tunity to study them in life. The report of Dr. Buchanan White, 

 one of the '.' Challenger' ' series, formed a part of the library 

 taken to the Bahamas by the recent University Expedition (of 

 which the writer was a member) and awakened a desire to add 

 something to the knowledge of these curious creatures. 



Though a careful watch was kept for them, not one was seen 

 until June 22d, forty-seven days out of port; on that date, soon 

 after noon, three or four specimens were seen skimming over the 

 surface of the water after the fashion of our common Hygrotre- 

 chus, but with extremely rapid movement, so that the note-book 

 entry was made — "any attempt to catch these insects with hand- 

 nets from the deck of the schooner would be vain." On the 

 24th they were seen again (in both cases off Key West), but no 

 captures could be made. The sea was almost perfectly calm, not 

 enough breeze stirring to fill the sails. 



