lie ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. Mar., '04} 



February 6, igo2. — Eighteen persons present. Mr. Edward 

 L. Graef, vice-president, in the chair. 



Mr. Weeks read an English translation of a clipping from a 

 German newspaper entitled "$8,000 for a Butterfly" {Ornithop- 

 tera paradisea), with other instances of the extraordinary sums 

 paid and hardships undergone to obtain various rare species, 

 some of which were afterward taken in large numbers. Dis- 

 cussion by Messrs. Doll, Franck and Graef, giving instances 

 of the capture of insects either rare or only locally so. Catop- 

 silia eubule had been seen by thousands on the south shore of 

 Long Island (Rockaway Beach), while Colias ccesonia had been 

 taken in Prospect Park, Brooklyn. Mr. Doll stated that the 

 first recorded capture of Zeuzera pyri?ii in this country was at 

 Hoboken, in 1879, by Fred. Smith. The specimen was a female, 

 found still living in a spider's web, and was for many years in 

 the Neumoegen collection. 



Discussion as to the best methods of destroying mosquitoes 

 and to what extent they acted as purveyors of disease. Mr. 

 Weeks preferred draining or filling, wherever practicable, as 

 affording permanent relief, to kerosene applications, which 

 were only temporary. 



March 6, igo2. — Twenty persons present. Prof. John B. 

 Smith, president, in the chair. 



Discussion as to the effect of heat and cold upon maculation 

 of wings of Lepidoptera. Mr. Englehardt exhibited variations 

 of Vanessa antiopa in which the blue submarginal spots were 

 more or less obsolete, and which had resulted from the expo- 

 sure of the pupae, directly after the transformations from larvae, 

 to extremes of heat and cold. Mr. Wasmuth mentioned his 

 capture of specimens of Arclia arge the secondaries of which 

 were highly suffused while the moths caught elsewhere in the 

 vicinity were of the ordinary type. Mr. Weeks offered as an 

 explanation that this arctian pupated in the spring, when the 

 weather was variable, and inasmuch as the fresh pupae were 

 insufficiently protected, it was more likely to be exposed to 

 and affected by extreme climatic changes, and that the loca- 

 tion of the place of pupation as to whether the exposure were 

 northern or southern might be a factor in causing variation. 



