Dec, 1921 Bulletin of the Brooklyn Entomological Society 139 



around old tree stumps, he stated ; one of the specimens of Mydas, 

 when captured, struck him on the finger, the bite being very pain- 

 ful for the moment; and Microstylmn morosum Loew, from 

 Tascosa, Texas, the largest robber fly of the United States. Mr. 

 C. A. Weeks delivered a lecture on the " Comparative Economic 

 Importance of Insects and Birds." 



Meeting of March 10, 1921. — Scientific Programme. — Messrs. 

 W. T. Davis, G. P. Engelhardt and J. Bequaert gave accounts of 

 the " Insects collected at the Penniquid Barrens, Long Island," 

 during the summer of 1920. Mr. Davis stated that the Penniquid 

 Barrens are shown on the Map of the Soils of Long Island, pub- 

 lished by the U. S. Dept. of Agriculture in 1903, as Norfolk Sand, 

 which consists chiefly of medium to fine grades of quartz sand 

 stained to an orange or yellow color. The Norfolk Sand on Long 

 Island is said to have been deposited as a coarse water-borne 

 sediment, an outwash of the glacier. On the Geologic Map of 

 Long Island by Myron L. Fuller, 191 3, the area of the Penniquid 

 Barrens is shown as Dune' Sand, extending about 7 miles nearly 

 east and west, and 2 miles north and south. These so-called 

 Barrens lie northwest of Coram and include the villages of Selden 

 and New Village, though the soil is better immediately about 

 Selden than it is in some of the hollows to the north and south. 

 There are now many abandoned farms in the region, which are 

 gradually lapsing into forest conditions, the ground being covered 

 with a carpet of bear-berry, an occasional juniper bush and many 

 red cedars. Oaks are common and in many places there are 

 stands of pitch-pine. The Dune Country has been visited three 

 times: once in August, 1916, and twice in 1920. Mr. Davis had 

 paid special attention to the Orthoptera, of which 34 species were 

 found, among others Hesperotettix hrevipennis Thomas, generally 

 seen in clumps of sweet-fern, and Mela'hoplus iuipudictis Scud- 

 der, a southern species taken in the Barrens in August, 191 6, and 

 again in August and September, 1920 ; this Melanoplus was also 

 collected near Deep Pond, Wading River, Long Island, August 7, 

 1912. The katydid, Pterophylla cameUifolia Fabricius, was com- 

 mon; three females found August 18, 1920, were soft, having 

 just matured. At a temperature of 50 to 54 degrees, Pterophylla 



