1898.] ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. 151 



Fourth International Congress of Zoology. — The Reception 

 Committee has issued a circular containing particulars with regard to 

 lodgings and other accommodation at Cambridge during the meeting in 

 August next, and giving other information as to the railway fares from 

 various parts of the Continent, and other arrangements for the Congress. 



The circular is accompanied by a reply-form, to be filled up and returned 

 to the Secretaries by any member of the Congress who wishes rooms to 

 be taken for him. 



These circulars have been sent to all who have already informed the 

 Reception Committee that they hope to be present at the meeting, and 

 will be sent to other Zoologists who apply to the Secretaries of the Re- 

 ception Committee, The Museums, Cambridge, England. 



A Beetle Removed from a Lady's Ear. — May 19, 1897, Dr. A. S. 

 Daggett, of Pittsburg, Pa., removed from the external ear of a German 

 lady a beetle nearly one-half an inch long; it was in the auditory canal, 

 close to the drum, and it was enclosed in a dense plug of wax. The 

 drum was ulcerated, with considerable surrounding congestion. The lady 

 did not know that she had an insect in her ear. The specimen, which 

 was referred to me, was a mere shell, the soft parts having been dissolved; 

 it was, however, perfectly recognizable, and it agreed with the European 

 species Phyllopertha horticola Linn. (Scarabaeidse). The determination 

 was made by direct comparison of specimens from Switzerland. The 

 species, so far as I know, does not occur in this country. The lady has 

 not been in Europe since August, 1893, consequently this large beetle 

 must have been in her ear at least three years and nine months; perhaps 

 much longer. — Herbert H. Smith. 



Interesting captures. — The morning of Feb. 10, 1898, I found here, 

 near the bed of a small mountain stream, in a grassy, damp situation on 

 the lower surface of a stone a specimen of the curious blind Tenebrionid 

 Alaudes singularis Horn. The beetle was in the society of a small black 

 ant with black abdomen and reddish brown thorax and head. The ants 

 and the Alaudes were absolutely motionless, benumbed by the rather cold 

 morning air, and it was only after some minutes of scrupulous searching 

 that I discovered the minute beetle adhering to the lower surface of the 

 stone. It feigned death even in the cyanide bottle quite a long time for 

 his small size. Under the same stone was a specimen of Anchomma 

 costatum Lee. 



During the month of January I have taken on the banks of the above- 

 described streamlet on meat hidden by me under stones, chips and leaves 

 about two dozens of Cychrus mimus Horn. More than the half of the 

 specimens were females. — A. Fenyes, M.D., Pasadena, Cal. 



Notes on Neominois ridingsii and dionysius. — Dionysius exists at 

 just the same altitude as ridingsii, so the differences are not the effect of 

 altitude. Ridingsii is very abundant everywhere around the city of Denver ; 

 even in the city in grassy places. This elevation is from five to six thou- 

 sand feet; it also occurs up to eight thousand feet, and probably higher. 



