1899] ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. 43 



and female are usually subnierg-ed. the male grasping the female and 

 both clingirg to ?ome aquatic plant in which the eggs are being 

 placed In the case of Celithetnfs fasciala in flight the male grasps 

 the female by the head, the legsot the latter hangins extended. 

 In copulation the abdoiv.eu of the male is grasped by all the legs of 

 the female, or the second and third pairs of legs may grasp the ab- 

 domen of the female herself. In ovipositing the male and female 

 hover and flit about "in couple/' the female frequently touching 

 the tip of her abdomen to the water.— E It. Williamson, Car- 

 negie Museum, Pittsburgh. 



AUorhinn n/d'da Linn, as a Fruit Pest. — 1 do not remember to 

 have seen a mention of this insect as a fruit pest I recently re- 

 ceived a number of the beetles from Mr- George F. Breuinger. who 

 obtained them at Phoenix, Ariz , and writes concerning them as 

 follows : *' They are the most destrucliA^e insect on fruit I have ever 

 seen. They begin with the tii-st peaches that ripen r.ud continue 

 until about the first of October, when they d'sappcir- I have seen 

 so many on a peach as to completely hide it, and they go to the 

 ground with much buzzing when the fruit drops You will notice 

 the cutting appai-atuson the top of the head with which it digs 

 up the flesh of the fruit. It also feeds to some extent on melons 

 and tomatoes."— C P. Gillette. 



Is Ceratomia ca/'a/pce spreading northward? In the November 

 number of The News (page 231) this southern species is recorded from 

 Delaware County, Pa. In 1893 I received thi'ough Prof. Bcekwith. 

 then of Delaware College, two specimens of this moth from i>ussex 

 County, Del., and in 189J. in a large quantity of electric light ma 

 terial taken in this city (Wilmington, Del.), I found a single speci- 

 men ; but this year the larvje have appeared on the catalpa trees 

 in great numbers, and the moths vere not rare at the lights: so 

 that in this State Ceraiomia catalpoi appears to have spread north- 

 ward, and has certainly greatly increased in numbers, whei'e it was 

 formerly very raie.— Frank M. Jones, Wilmington. Del. 



Grasshoppers in New Mexico.— This year (1S9S) we have had 

 quite a plague of grasshoppers in the Mesilla Valley. The species 

 concerned were all residents. The principal offender being Melano- 

 phift differentialis, with M. femur-rvbnim a fair second. J/, aridus 

 was common, but seemed to restrict it-elf almost entirely to the 

 native gras.ses The interesting feature of the attack was that it 

 was not participated in by three Melanopliui (I prefer this term 

 for the tribe to Melanopli), which were very common in the im 

 mediate vicinity. Jlelanoplits herbacens occurred in immense num- 

 bers on the Pluchea bnreah's,^oIopli(s ele(/ans was equaUy abundant 

 on Atn'plex canescens, while Besperotetii < viridis was quite com- 

 mon on ^/^^e'or/ff {or Iosco ma) heterophylla var, wriyhtii. Each 

 of these species is colored like its food-plant, and never by any 

 chance leaves it for the cultivated fields. 



