Maech 18, 1898.] 



SCIENCE. 



393 



■cially investigated. The aim was particularly 

 to make the personal acquaintance of the men 

 •charged with official work in this field, and with 

 the conditions under which work is done in 

 Europe, as a basis for estimating the methods 

 there employed for the new world. The address 

 •covered only the places visited and the indi- 

 viduals seen, and laid no claim, therefore, to 

 being a complete review of the subject of ap- 

 plied entomology in Europe. The author dis- 

 •cussed the status and condition of entomological 

 museums, the official economic work, both in 

 the central national bureaus and connected with 

 •agricultural, horticultural and forestry schools, 

 and also the work carried on by private enter- 

 prise. Much attention was given to the for- 

 estry conditions, the methods of culture of 

 fruit, etc., and also to the climatic and topo- 

 graphic features as bearing on the abundance of 

 and control of injurious insects. The countries 

 ■especially discussed were England, France, 

 Switzerland, southern Germany, Austria-Hun- 

 gary, Italy and Spain. The worst injurious in- 

 sects of the countries named were particularly 

 -studied, and especially those that so far have 

 not reached America, and which, it is extremely 

 •desirable, should be kept from gaining lodgment 

 here. In this connection were mentioned par- 

 ticularly two important grape pests, the Co- 

 chylis Tortrix ambiguella, and the Pyrale Tor- 

 irix pilleriana ; also the olive fruit fly of France, 

 Italy and Spain, Daucus olese, and some insect 

 -enemies of forage crops and grasses. The pres- 

 ent status of the gipsy moth in Europe was 

 also particularly investigated. 



In summarizing the results of the trip, the 

 .author laid stress on the exceptional weather 

 conditions of the season covered (Aug. -Nov., 

 1897), which, on account of excessive rainfall 

 and unusual cold, led to a great scarcity of in- 

 sect life, and also to the absence of insect dam- 

 age, which was almost complete. In fact, with 

 the exception of the olive fruit fly, no serious 

 damage by insects was noted in either forest 

 -growth or in the various fruit districts. It was 

 pointed out that the deductions from a single 

 season are, therefore, necessarily unfair and do 

 not apply to norrnal conditions. The fact, 

 ihowever, that the climate of most of central 

 And southern Europe is unfavorable, as a rule, 



to the abundant production of insects was 

 strongly urged, and it was asserted that the 

 immunity from insect damage in Europe gen- 

 erally as compared with America is almost 

 solely attributed to this fact rather than to any 

 exceptional efficacy or abundance of parasitic 

 and predaceous insect enemies of the injurious 

 species. 



In the matter of the treatment of destructive 

 insects it would appear also that we have little 

 to learn or gain from the study of European 

 methods, for the simple reason that the injury is 

 so much less frequent and less serious that 

 wholesale methods of control, such as are neces- 

 sary here, are seldom or never employed. This 

 applies especially to the scale insects. The 

 grape must always be excepted, this being per- 

 haps the only crop where the European and 

 American grower meet on equal terms in the 

 matter of insect enemies. The author gave as 

 his belief that the greatest benefit to be derived 

 from the study of applied entomology in Europe 

 is in the ability to more correctly appreciate 

 the facts of climate, forest growth and methods 

 of culture of fruits, etc. , pertaining there, with- 

 out a personal acquaintance with which it is im- 

 possible, except in a general way, to determine 

 the applicability of methods of work followed 

 for conditions on this side of the Atlantic, 

 which, while apparently often similar, are alto- 

 gether different. 



February 10, 189S : 132d regular meeting. 

 Specimens were exhibited as follows : 



By Mr. Ashmead, the male and female of 

 Sypota pectinicornis from south Europe ; re- 

 markable from the flabellate antennse of the 

 male. 



By Mr. Schwarz, cocoons of Cactophagus vali- 

 dus, taken from the trunk of the giant cactus, 

 at Tucson, Ariz., by Mr. Hubbard. In these 

 cocoons in the winter time occur dead and 

 mutilated specimens of an undescribed spe- 

 cies of Bothrideres, which are unable to escape 

 and die within the cocoons. 



By Mr. Pratt, a specimen of Lachnosterna in- 

 versa, collected at Keokuk, Iowa, by Dr. Shaf- 

 fer, and bearing on its thorax two eggs of a 

 dipterous parasite. 



By Mr. Fairchild, a Javanese Phyllium 

 closely resembling the guava leaf; also a photo- 



