32 



THE AMERICAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



Snow, C. E. Webster, O. S. Westcott, C. E. 

 Worthington, and G. D. Zimmerman — a 

 quite incomplete list of the contributors 

 to this department. 



Results of anatomical studies of insects 

 have been published by Messrs. C. F. Gissler, 

 J. D. Hyatt, E. L. Mark, and C. V. Riley. 



It would be inexcusable in a notice of 

 biological work to omit reference to what 

 is being done in this direction at the 

 Museum of Comparative Zoology at Cam- 

 bridge. Under the hand of the eminent 

 Curator of the Entomological Department, 

 Dr. H. A. Hagen, a biological collection 

 of insects has been brought together that 

 is far in advance of any similar collection 

 in the world. It was my privilege recently 

 to give it a partial examination, and when 

 I say that I know not how to express my 

 high estimation of it, I give it but imper- 

 fect praise. No one, whose studies have 

 prepared him for the appreciation of such 

 a collection, can examine it without won- 

 dering when, where and how the material 

 was obtained. As an illustration of the 

 natural history of species, in their several 

 stages, architecture, depredations, food- 

 plants, diseases, parasites, etc., it is difficult 

 to see how its plan of arrangement can be 

 improved. In consideration of its high 

 value, it is very gratifying to see that such 

 unusual means have been resorted to for 

 its preservation, as, with a reasonable super- 

 vision and without the operation of other 

 than the ordinary causes of destruction, 

 will extend its benefits to our successors 

 in coming centuries. In addition to the 

 biological collection, two others have been 

 arranged : the one comprising the insects 

 of North America, and the other those of 

 the world. Of the number of type speci- 

 mens contained in these collections, there 

 is not the time at present, nor is it the 

 occasion, for more than simple mention. 

 The student in American Entomology, 

 who aims to be fully abreast of the most 

 advanced progress in his line of study, can- 

 not neglect the means of information which 

 the Collections and Library of the Ento- 

 mological Department at the Cambridge 

 Museum offer him. 



The published results of economic in- 

 vestigations during the year have been 

 quite limited. In consideration of the 

 exceeding importance of these studies, it 

 is painful to have to record the fact of the 

 issue of but one Annual Report of a State 

 Entomologist — that of Cyrus Thomas. 

 This second report of Dr. Thomas, form- 

 ing the seventh in the series of the Illinois 

 reports, is a volume of nearly 300 pages. 

 In it Dr. Thomas discusses the depreda- 

 tions of some of the Orthoptera, Coleoptera, 

 and Hemiptera. Prof. G. H. French, 

 Assistant Entomologist, presents brief de- 

 scriptions of a large number of diurnal and 

 nocturnal Lepidoptera and their larvae, 

 with notices of their habits, accompanied 

 by analytical tables for their identification. 

 Miss Emma A. Smith, special Assistant 

 Entomologist, offers the results of original 

 investigations in some species of special 

 economic importance. The publication of 

 this and the preceding Report, without, as 

 is evident, the opportunity of the revision 

 and correction o^ proof by the authors, is 

 much to be regretted, as serious errors in 

 the nomenclature and elsewhere have there- 

 by been given extensive circulation. 



The Annual Report of the Entomological 

 Society of Ontario, making the ninth in the 

 series, contains its usual amount of matter 

 of interest to the entomologist, and of 

 value to the agriculturist and horticulturist. 



Several articles treating of insect depre- 

 dations have appeared in our scientific 

 journals, which cannot now be referred to. 



The United States Entomological Com- 

 mission, continued by an appropriation by 

 the last Congress of $10,000, is actively 

 engaged in its second year's operations. 

 In its investigations of the Rocky Moun- 

 tain Locust, its labors have been almost 

 entirely confined to that portion of country 

 designated as the Permanent region, with 

 a view of determining the limits of these 

 permanent breeding grounds, and to obtain 

 the requisite data for the preparation of a 

 map, and a scheme to be recommended to 

 the Government, by which the excessive 

 multiplication of the species in that region, 

 and the consequent migration therefrom, 



