Sept., I902.] Proceedings of the Society. 173 



taken one specimen of Hippomelas californicns, a number of specimens of 

 Gyascutus obliteratus, forty or fifty Acmceodera gibbula, one or two Chryso- 

 bothris malt, many Chrysobothris debilis, and several hundred Chrysobothris 

 merkeli, the first on the wing, the second in flowers of mesquite and all of 

 the rest by beating dead trees of the latter. 



The doctor then gave a list of all the species found in the state of 

 California. 



The next paper was by Mr. J. R. de la Torre Bueno, " Notes on a Mole- 

 cricket from Porto Rico." He exhibited epecimens of the mole crickets sent to 

 him by a correspondent in Porto Rico, who wrote as follows : " There is here- 

 about a worm whose technical name I do not know, called popularly ' changa.' 

 It is a kind of winged and jumping cricket. As a general rule it lives below 

 the surface and comes up only at times of great drouths. It feeds on the roots 

 of plants, among them the sugar cane. But the unfortunate part is that the 

 cane whose roots have been attacked by the insect loses its beautiful green 

 and becomes a pale yellow. It also loses its sap to such a degree that it is 

 given up, as it yields no juice when crushed. The cane is then said to be 

 sick. This insect was unknown here twenty-five or thirty years ago, and it 

 made its first appearance on lands fertilized with guano from Peru and it 

 shortly took possession of such lands as had not been fertilized with guano. 

 In the dry season the country people had the habit of making fires to burn 

 the grass, and to these the crickets come by thousands." 



Mr. Bueno sent some of his specimens to Dr. Howard and they were 

 identified by Mr. Caudell as Scapteriscus didactylus. Mr. Caudell gave it 

 as his opinion that they originated in Cuba. 



Mr. Bueno said that he was inclined to believe that Mr. Caudell was 

 right in ascribing its home as Cuba, as the Chincha Islands, from which Peru- 

 vian guano originally came, are barren rocks in the ocean, covered with the 

 excreta of birds and absolutely devoid of vegetation. And as this insect is 

 naturally a vegetable feeder it seems reasonable to suppose that it did not 

 originate there. Moreover, the insect is popularly known in Porto Rico as 

 " Cubano " or Cuban. 



Discussed by Mr. Davis, who also exhibited a specimen from Porto 

 Rico. 



Mr. Zabriskie then spoke on " Some Species of Native Ear-wigs and Eggs 

 of the American Katydid {Microcentrum lanri folium)." He showed a collec- 

 tion of three of our species and made a few remarks on the habits and habitat 

 of the forms shown. Most of them were collected on Sheffield Island, off 

 the shore of Connecticut. Mr. Zabriskie stated that he believed ear-wigs 

 were much commoner in the South and on the Pacific Coast than in the 

 Eastern United States, where there were but some seven or eight species. 



Dr. Van Dyke, in discussing the paper, said that he had not found ear- 

 wigs at all common in California, with the possible exception of a single 

 species which was common in southern California. 



Mr. Joutel stated that he had found one large ear-wig, A. maritima, very 

 common along the East River, under rubbish.* 



* Also found along the Hudson River. W. B. 



