294 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. III. No. 6(>. 



the following table, the final arrangement of 

 Comte being shown in the left-hand column for 

 porposes of comparison : 



System of 

 Auguste Comte. 



1. Astronomy. 



2. Physics. 



3. Chemistry. 



4. Biology (including 



5. CerebralBiology). 



6. Sociology. 



7. Ethics. 



System of 

 Herbert Spencer. 



1. Astronomy. 



2. Geology. 



3. Biology. 



4. Psychology. 



5. Sociology. 



6. Ethics. 



Mr. Ward said that he would himself agree 

 with Spencer in admitting psychology to equal 

 rank with the other members of the series, but 

 that he would differ from both Comte and Spen- 

 cer in assigning such rank to ethics, which he 

 regarded a subdivision of sociology. 



When it is remembered that the question in- 

 volved is solely that of the natural order of 

 evolution, or genesis of the successive groups of 

 phenomena, and not that of the logical relation- 

 ships of the sciences that have to deal with 

 them, still less that of the historical order in 

 which these sciences have been cultivated, it 

 seems clear that it makes little difference 

 whether, with Comte, the attention is concen- 

 trated more upon the laws governing the phe- 

 nomena, or, with Spencer, upon the objects 

 manifesting the phenomena. The series is vir- 

 tually the same in either case, and it may be 

 fairly claimed that it embodies the largest truth 

 which the universe presents. 



Mr. Ward's paper was discussed by Mr. J. W. 

 Powell and Mr. Henry Farquhar. 



W. C. WiNLOCK, 



Secretary. 



ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 



The 114th regular meeting was held Febru- 

 ary 6th. Mr. Schwarz read a communication on 

 the ' Sleeping Trees of Hymenoptera in South- 

 western Texas.' Sleeping specimens of two 

 species of Apidse, Melissodes pygmseus and Coeli- 

 oxys texana could frequently be seen near San 

 Diego, Texas, in the early morning hours on 

 the thinnest twigs and thorns of dead bushes of 

 Celtis pallida. The sleeping bees hold the twig 

 or thorn firmly grasped with all six legs, and 

 further secure their position by inserting the 



tips of the widely separated mandibles firmly 

 into the wood. Certain bushes of rather small 

 size are selected by the bees as common sleep- 

 ing quarters, and on such bushes the two Apidse 

 are always associated with a Sphegid, Coloptera 

 wrightii. The similarity of these sleeping quar- 

 ters with the so-called ' Butterfly ' trees, which 

 are the common sleeping places of Danais ar- 

 chippus was discussed. 



The paper was discussed by Messrs. Howard, 

 Ashmead, Benton, Gill, Stiles and Fernow. Mr. 

 Ashmead had little doubt of the entire novelty 

 of the observations. Mr. Benton described the 

 position of the honeybee when asleep. Drs. 

 Gill and Stiles and Mr. Fernow discussed the 

 question of sleep and rest with other animals. 



Mr. Howard read a paper on the transforma- 

 tions of Pulex serraticeps, showing that the com- 

 mon household flea, to which so much attention 

 has been attracted during the past few summers 

 in Northeastern cities, is this common cosmo- 

 politan pest of the cat and dog. He gave the 

 results of careful observations made upon dif- 

 ferent stages of the insect, and showed that the 

 entire life round from the egg to the adult 

 may occupy in the summer at Washington but 

 sixteen days, the transformations being as rapid 

 as at Calcutta, India. This paper was discussed 

 by Messrs. Patten, Fernow, Barnard, Schwarz^ 

 Benton, Ashmead, Marlatt and Gill, who told 

 many stories of the habits and ferocity of fleas 

 in difierent parts of the world. 



L. O. Howard, 

 Recording Secretary. 



geological society of WASHINGTON. 



At the forty-second meeting of the Geologi- 

 cal Society of Washington, held on Wednes- 

 day, January 29, 1896, Prof. C. R. Van Hise, 

 of the University of Wisconsin, presented a 

 communication on the Relations of Primary and 

 Secondary Structures in Rocks, being a contin- 

 uation of the subject considered at the preced- 

 ing meeting. 



The relations between cleavage and fissility 

 were discussed. It was concluded that fissility 

 in many cases is controlled in its direction by a^ 

 previously developed cleavage. Further, most 

 rocks, at the surface having the property of 

 cleavage which developed under deep seated 



