Mar.,1908.] PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY. 59 



He said he had found a number of these and many contained parts of insects. Those 

 shown contained elytra and portions of Dytiscus fasciventris which the bird had evi- 

 dently swallowed. 



Mr. Southwick exhibited a box of Carabidae containing a number of species of 

 Pterostichus. 



Meeting of May 7, 1907. 



Held at the American Museum of Natural History. President C. \V. Leng in 

 the chair with twelve members present. 



The librarian, Mr. Schaeffer, reported the receipt of the following exchanges : 



Deutsche Entomol. Zeitschrift, 1907, No. 2. 



Wiener Entomol. Zeitung, XXVI, No. 3. 



Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts and Sciences, XLII, No. 6. 



Stettiner Entomol. Zeitung, LXVII, No. 2. 



Canadian Entomol., XXXIX, No. 5. 



Anales del Museo Nacional de Montevideo, Tome III, Entr. I, 1906. 



The Secretary read an invitation from the New York Academy of Sciences to 

 participate in the exercises to be held in commemoration of the birthday of Linnaeus 

 on May 23. 



On motion of Mr. Southwick, the president appointed as members of a committee 

 to act for the society : Messrs. Southwick, Schaeffer and Barber. 



Professor Wheeler mentioned some of the ants taken on the excursion at New- 

 foundland, N. J., among which was a new variety of Formica exsectoides, the female of 

 which has a redder abdomen than the common form. He also mentioned a few of 

 the myrmecophilous beetles taken and spoke concerning the habits of a moss which 

 grew upon ants' nests and eventually drove away or exterminated the colony. 



Mr. Leng exhibited a few beetles taken on April 28 in the hills made by the ant, 

 Formica exsectoides, at Newfoundland, N. J. The species shown were : Tachys 

 incurvus Say, Ptomophagus parasitus Lee, Cedius ziegleri Lee. , Hetarius brunnei- 

 pennis Rand, Megasiilicus formicarius Casey, Cremostochilus castanea Knoch., 

 Batrisus fossicauda Casey, which is new to the New Jersey list of insects. All of 

 the preceding have been recorded as living with ants. 



Mr. Schaeffer exhibited some of the insects known as carriers of disease and 

 remarked that the Diptera had more disease carrying or disease breeding members 

 than any of the other orders of insects. He spoke of the mosquito in connection 

 with malaria and yellow fever, the sleeping sickness caused by the tsetse fly in Africa, 

 whose bite caused sickness and death to animals, the Tabanidse which are trouble- 

 some to horses and cattle and instrumental in carrying disease, the house-fly which 

 carries the germs of contagious diseases on its feet and body, ticks which are im- 

 portant carriers of disease, such as Texas fever among cattle. It has not yet been 

 satisfactorily proved that fleas and bed bugs act as agents in carrying disease. 



Mr. Dickerson spoke of the great impetus which had recently been given to the 

 study of entomology because of the recognized value of a knowledge of disease 

 breeding and carrying insects. 



Mr. Zabriskie gave an interesting and instructive talk on the "Microscopical 

 Examination of External Structures of Hemipterous Insects," illustrated by many 

 lantern slides. Among the species dealt with were Oncopeltus fascial us, Siena 

 diadema, Acholla midtispinosa and P/iymata wolfi. 



