124 Journal New York Entomological Society. 



process. Some 3,000 silk worms were reared, and of these 300 were inflated and 

 the rest allowed to pupate. Some of the pupae were treated and the silk taken from 

 the cocoons, a reel being made for the purpose. Photographs of the machinery and 

 process were used to illustrate the exhibit in the museum. Mr. Engelhardt exhibited 

 some silk gut which he had obtained from Cecropia and explained the process by 

 which it was prepared, but his experience had shown this gut to be rotten. Never- 

 theless, it might be possible to perfect the process and thus obtain valuable gut. He 

 spoke of the process as carried on chiefly in Spain and Italy with the true silk worm. 



Mr. Engelhardt also exhibited some abnormal specimens of insects : a Cecropia 

 with an extra fore wing and a katydid with two tarsi on the same leg. He spoke of 

 the frequency of malformation in vertebrates, particularly among fish, and accounted for 

 this through some accident or unusual condition to which the egg had been subjected. 

 In this connection Mr. Davis exhibited an ox-beetle from Brazil which had three 

 tarsi on one of the fore legs. 



Mr. Joutel exhibited an Elaphidion with two antennae springing from one basal 

 joint, also a Cremaslockilus which had the two front tibiae on the left side unlike. 

 To illustrate this subject further Mr. Osburn exhibited drawings of the hear! of 

 Syrphus arcuatus which had only one compound eye and three antennae. The extra 

 antenna occupied the place where the normal eye should appear. The whole head 

 was deformed. This malformation was probably due to injury during its early 

 development. He spoke of a similar condition in the Crustacea determined by 

 Herbst and also by Morgan. When a compound eye of these Arthropods is removed 

 at the proper stage it will be replaced by an antenna. 



Professor Wheeler spoke of a Dipteron ( Dilophits tibialis) which he collected in 

 Wyoming, and which had a beetle-like antenna growing out of one of its fore coxae. 



Mr. Joutel spoke of the importance of an attempt to cross and rear some of these 

 monstrosities to determine whether the malformation would be inherited by the off- 

 spring ; also of the frequency of abnormalities in trout caused by a disturbance of 

 the eggs. 



Mr. Schaeffer made some remarks on the factors which should determine faunal 

 regions. He stated that his experience had shown that it was a mistake to place too 

 much dependence upon insects of a particular region as factors in determining a 

 faunal region, although certain groups, which were more fixed in their habits, might 

 be taken as indicative. For instance, a number of collectors have maintained that 

 Brownsville has a semi-tropical fauna. , As a result of his investigations in that 

 region, Mr. Schaeffer had found that in the Cerambycidae taken there only 35 per 

 cent, were semi-tropical ; of the Lepidoptera only 20 per cent, were semi-tropical ; 

 the remainder belonging to the southern faunal regions of the United States. In- 

 vestigation had shown that the flora of a particular region was the best determining 

 factor. 



Society adjourned. 



