110 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



through the woods, running up or around the trunks of trees or hanging head down- 

 wards from a slender twig, never still for more than an instant, as they peer into every 

 tuft of moss, every crack or cranny in the bark, along the twigs, under the bud scales of 

 deciduous trees or among the leaves of evergreens, talking cheerfully to themselves and 

 each other all the time as they carry out their useful mission in clearing the trees and 

 shrubs of countless insect enemies ; woe to the luckless caterpillar, chrysalis, spider, or 

 beetle which comes within the range of their sharp black eyes. Nothing comes amiss to 

 these insatiable hunters, from the minute, shining black eggs of an aphis to the fat chrys- 

 alis of a Oecropia Emperor Moth ; with deft blows the hard sharp beak soon penetrates 

 the thick silken cocoon and in a very short time the marauder is away looking for 

 another victim. Dr. Clarence Weed publishes in this interesting bulletin the results of 

 some careful investigations which he has carried out as to the winter food of the chick- 

 adee. He shows that more than one half of the food of this bird during the winter 

 months consists of insects, a large portion being in the form of eggs. Vegetation of 

 various sorts made up a little less than a quarter of the food, and two-thirds of this 

 quarter consisted of the buds or bud scales which were believed to have been accidentally 

 eaten along with the eggs of plant-lice. These eggs made up more than one-fifth of the 

 entire food and formed the most remarkable element of the bill of fare. This destruc- 

 tion of myriads of eggs of the plant-lice which infest fruit, shade and forest trees is 

 probably the most important service which the chickadee renders during his winter 

 residence. More than 450 of these eggs are sometimes eaten by one bird in a single day 

 as well as the eggs of many other kinds of our most important insect enemies of the 

 forest, garden and orchard. Dr. Weed figures in his bulletin some twigs of various trees 

 upon which the eggs of insects have been deposited. Among these are represented the 

 egg masses of the tent caterpillars and the Fall Canker-worm, both of which are favourite 

 foods of these useful little birds. In addition to eggs or insects, many caterpillars and 

 other stages in the development of insects are destroyed. One interesting figure shows 

 the winter cases of a small caterpillar, closely hidden behind apple buds ; these are, in 

 all probability, those of the Eye-spotted Bud-moth, sometimes one of the most trouble- 

 some and destructive enemies of the fruit-grower. This bulletin shows much careful work 

 in a field which has been, to a large extent, neglected by entomologists, and Dr. Weed 

 should receive the thanks of all lovers of birds for the proofs which he furnishes of the 

 real benefits we receive from these little favorites. It was pleasing for some people to 

 know and most people to think that these birds were useful, but it is now possible to 

 prove it to all who are willing to learn. — J. F. 



Scudder's Revision op the Melanopli. 



One of the most important works on Entomology which has been issued by an 

 American author in recent years is that entitled a " Revision of the Orthopteran Group 

 Melanopli (Acridiidee) with Special Reference to North American Forms " by Samuel 

 Hubbard Scudder.* It is more important because it deals with a representative North 

 American group of insects whose members, between April and November, leap from our 

 pathway in profusion whether we stroll through open woodland, sunny meadow, or along 

 the roadside, and yet of whose classification and nomenclature the greatest confusion has 

 heretofore existed. It was only another example showing the truth of the old saying : 

 " that the common things around us are those of which we are most densely ignorant." 



True, of one of the members of the group, the "Rocky Mountain Locust," Melanoplu 8 

 spretus (Thos.), more has, perhaps, been written than of any other insect on earth, yet i* 

 is but one of 207 of its kind which are described at length by Mr. Scudder. The other 3 

 are scattered far and wide over the continent of North America and the descriptions of 

 the ninety -two species hitherto rightfully known to science were distributed through an 

 almost equal range of literature. No better evidence of the need of the " Revision " is 

 necessary than to know that after a careful examination of nearly 8,000 specimens, 7,000 



*Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus., XX., 1897, No. 1124, pp. 1-421. Plates I.-XXVI. 



