718 



SCIENCE. 



LN. S. Vol. VIII. No. 203. 



Dr. L. O. Howard described ' the Outbreak 

 of the Fluted Scale in Portugal, and ita Re- 

 sults,' stating that the scale had been brought 

 from Australia to the Cape de Verde Islands on 

 Acacias, introduced to form windbreaks for the 

 orange plantations, and thence carried to Por- 

 tugal. In 1896, when the insect had spread over 

 a considerable extent of territory, the Australian 

 Lady-bug was brought from the United States, 

 with the result that within a year it had prac- 

 tically exterminated the scale insect. 



Mr. Charles T. Simpson told of ' the Destruc- 

 tion of the Pearlj' Fresh-water Mussels ' in the 

 central United States, saying that their whole- 

 sale gathering for pearls and for use in making 

 buttons threatened to exterminate them in 

 many sections, and the injury was aggravated 

 by the drainage of large tracts and by the con- 

 tamination of the streams by sewage. The 

 speaker briefly described the breeding habits of 

 the two great groups of fresh-water mussels 

 and suggested some remedial measures. 



Mr. F. A. Lucas noted 'the Occurrence of 

 Mammoth Remains on the Pribilof Islands,' 

 stating that Mr. R. E. Snodgrass and the party 

 from Stanford University had, in 1897, ob- 

 tained two teeth of the Mammoth and bones of 

 a bear, apparently distinct from the existing 

 Polar Bear, from a lava cave on Bogoslof Hill. 

 He was of the opinion that possibly the pres- 

 ence of these bones in such a situation might 

 indicate the comparatively recent connection 

 of the island with the mainland. 



F. A. Lucas, 



Secretary. 



ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 



November 3, 189S. Under the head of exhibi- 

 tion of specimens Mr. Heidemann showed Di- 

 chocysta pictipes Champion, originally described 

 from Panama, which has recently been collected 

 in the Santa Rita Mountains of Arizona by Mr. 

 Schwarz. Mr. Schwarz showed specimens of a 

 Pyromorphid moth and a Lampyrid beetle from 

 Arizona which appear identical during flight. 

 He described the peculiar flight habits of both 

 species. Dr. Dyar stated that the mimicry is 

 complicated in this case by the fact that there 

 are three moths, an Arctiid and a Syntomeid in 

 addition to this Pyromorphid, which with the 



Lampyrid beetle all look almost exactly alike 

 while flying. Professor Uhler spoke of the 

 progress of his work upon the Capsidse, show- 

 ing that from recent collections in Mexico and 

 South America he is beginning to flnd that 

 many of our United States forms have a much 

 more southern origin than has hitherto been 

 supposed. 



Mr. Howard read a paper entitled ' An Insect 

 Breeding in Petroleum,' showing that an Ephy- 

 drid fly, described by Mr. Coquillett in connec- 

 tion with this paper as Psilopa petrolei n. sp., 

 breeds in large numbers in crude petroleum 

 pools in the neighborhood of oil wells near 

 Los Angeles, Cal. This insect has not pre- 

 viously been mentioned in entomological litera- 

 ture. It has been known to oil men for some 

 time and is referred to incidentally by S. F. 

 Peckham in his ' Report on the Production, 

 Technology and Uses of Petroleum and Its 

 Products' in Volume X., Tenth Census Reports. 



Mr. Schwarz continued his paper of the pre- 

 vious meeting on ' Southern Arizona and its 

 Insect Fauna,' speaking especially of the sharp 

 demarcations in the life zones in Arizona on ac- 

 count of the extremely variable altitudes, pro- 

 ducing a complexity of zones which is more 

 marked than elsewhere in the United States. 

 He described at length the characteristic fea- 

 tures, both botanical and entomological, of the 

 regions mentioned, showing among other inter- 

 esting points that Dr. Merriam's conclusion 

 that the valley of the Colorado River is tropical 

 is hardly substantiated by a study of the insects. 

 The paper was discussed at length by Messrs. 

 Gill, Howard, Ulke, Pollard, Ashmead and 

 Uhler. 



L. O. Howard, 



Secretary. 



TOEREY BOTANICAL CLUB, OCTOBER 11, 1898. 



The evening was devoted to informal reports 

 of summer observations and experiences. The 

 Secretary spoke of collections in the White 

 Mountains and on the Massachusetts coast and 

 near Lake Erie. 



Dr. Britton spoke of the progress made at the 

 Botanic Garden, especially in the advancement 

 of the museum building, and reported the pros- 



