474 ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS ['Dec:,’12 
to study) and see at a glance the kind of territory which the species 
has evolved in. If collections and published references were labeled 
thus, a student of geographical distribution, for instance, could use 
such already accumulated data in his studies, instead of having to 
make special collections for such a purpose. It is evident that we 
possess taxonomic collections which are hardly useful for anything 
else; there is no reason why they should not be made doubly useful 
A very little thought on this subject ought to convince anyone of the 
desirability of such a course of labeling, as it will make specimens 
useful for many generations in the study of the “why and wherefore” 
of things, the specimen otherwise being useless, except for its tax- 
onomy. 
By addressing The Director, U. S. Geological Survey, Washington, 
D. C., information and lists of published maps for particular States 
may be obtained free. These maps are very cheap, 5 cents each, or 2 
cents when ordered in lots of 100.—ForpDyCeE GRINNELL, JR. 
Oviposition of Lixus concavus Say (Coleop.). 
A brief note on this species published by Mr. A. A. Girault, p. 401, 
November number of News, would almost lead one to infer that 
there had been no previous studies of the oviposition of this species. 
In Entomologica Americana, Vol. V, pp.. 11-16, January, 1889, the 
writer gave a somewhat extended account of the oviposition of both 
Lixus concavus and Lixus macer. A few months later, in September, 1889, 
Doctor C. M. Weed published in Bulletin VI, Vol. II, of the Ohio 
Agricultural Experiment Station, some studies of the habits of Lirus 
mucidus under the name of L. concavus. There had been an earlier 
paper published by the late Mr. D. W. Coquillett in Canadian Ento- 
mologist, Vol. XV, p. 113, 1883, on similar habits of Lixus macer. 
Mr. Coquillett’s observations were made at Woodstock, McHenry 
County, Illinois, while mine were made in DeKalb County, II- 
linois, and at Lafayette, Indiana. A second article by the writ- 
er, under the title of “Food Plants of Lixus,’ was published in 
the Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington, Vol. 
II, 1892, pp. 339-341. Still later, a more exhaustive article was pub- 
lished by Doctor F. H. Chittenden, Bulletin XXIII, n. s., U. S. De- 
partment of Agriculture, Division of Entomology, in 1900. This last 
article related entirely to Lixus concavus. While no special studies 
were made by Doctor Chittenden of the oviposition, nevertheless the 
paper contains references to previous publications, giving the dis- 
tribution and a description of the earlier stages together with bio- 
logical notes. 
It will, therefore, be seen that Mr. Girault’s paper is antedated 
by quite exhaustive studies of the oviposition of Lirus concavus and 
of other species of the genus—F. M. WEBSTER. 
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