230 ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. [Oct., '19 



with the interest of science herself. There is a confusion here which 

 is often desired and which it is good to dissipate. Be that as it may, 

 when priority is concerned, the interest of describers is entirely worthy 

 of consideration ; we guard ourselves from misconception and we 

 honor the more those whose sense of their dignity and their patriotism 

 has caused them to decide to impose upon themselves the great sacri- 

 fice of deferring the publication of a description of a species or of a 

 more important scientific discovery. 



It is fitting, and we make it a duty to ourselves, to signalize the 

 case of one of our most distinguished collaborators, Dr. F. Ris, of 

 Rheinau. The printing of his masterly work on the Libellulinae was 

 completed in 1916 and the last fasciculus could only be distributed 

 today, March i, 1919. Many descriptions of new species have lost 

 priority by the fact of this delay. We think that there is ground for 

 establishing the rights of Dr. Ris in certain cases and we beg our 

 colleagues to examine them and to act toward him in all equity, now 

 that the quite exceptional cause of the delay is known to all. — G. 

 Severin, Conservator at the Musee Royal d'Histoire Naturelle de 

 Belgique. [Translated.] 



Abundance of Cicadas in Baluchistan. 

 Apropos of the present year as a 17-year Cicada year the following: 

 "At Quetta, from the 15th to the end of June, igi8, there was a regular 

 plague of Cicadas. A certain road, running out of Quetta for about 

 five miles, was lined with small mulberry and a few willow and other 

 trees. The trunks and branches of these trees were so closely studded 

 with the Cicadas that they appeared gnarled and discolored. When 

 a motor car passed along the road the insects continually rose in a 

 swarm, resembling a swarm of large bees. The ground on either side 

 of the road was pitted with the holes of the pupae, and the empty 

 pupal cases clung in dozens to every plant and shrub. In the evening 

 the noise near the trees was deafening. The imagines were about 

 two inches long, colored yellow with red markings, but unfortunately 

 I was unable to identify the species. On being disturbed they squirted 

 a clear white fluid from the abdomen. If a drop of this entered the 

 eye it caused smarting and irritation. In spite of this dogs, cats and 

 chickens all eat them with relish. At about the end of June they began 

 to die ofif and the ground under the trees was littered with their 

 bodies. Some of the smaller trees were so damaged by their attacks 

 that they lost their leaves. — F. B. Scott in Entom., London, April, 1919. 



Changes of Address. 



Charles W. Leng, Secretary of the New York Entomological So- 

 ciety and Research Associate in the American Museum of Natural 

 History, has been appointed Director of the Museum of the Staten 

 Island Institute of Arts and Sciences. 



