14 



has no such habits. Referring to Mr. Smith's remarks on tuftings of the feet of Noc- 

 .jfcuidse, C. saltitans is peculiar in having the tarsi hidden by long tufts of scales. 



Mr. Dimmock says that 0. leucostigma has not been abundant near Boston, and that 

 the spring frosts affected the eastern rather than the western portion of the State. 



Mr. Smith replied that on Cape Cod he had found the larva? so abundant that they 

 stripped the trees everywhere, and there had been frost enough to kill a large quantity of 

 -vegetation. 



Dr. Horn said it is a remarkable fact that all of the Coleoptera mentioned by Prof. 

 Lintner are imported species, and for the most part they have kept pretty close to the sea 

 shore. It is interesting that they have commenced their journey toward the interior ; 

 it was to be expected, however, that eventually they would travel along the lines of their 

 food plant, as did the potato beetle from west to east. At Washington he had noticed 

 the elm tree stripped of their leaves. Another species, Crioceris 12-punctata, has of late 

 been taken by Mr. Lugger around Baltimore. It is rather curious that the neighbour- 

 hood of Baltimore and Alexandria, with comparatively a very limited commerce, should 

 still have yielded a proportionately very large number of imported species. Two species 

 of Blaps have been introduced and first found near those cities, one mortisaga, and 

 another not yet determined. Of B. mortisaga a friend said that a bushel could be taken 

 from a single cellar in Alexandria. Another very curious matter is the very sudden 

 spread of insects. When working over the Ryncophora some years since with Dr. 

 LeConte, every collector was applied to for material, and from Mr. Fuller was obtained 

 a little species, marked Montana, which was named Aramiges Fulleri, and was then the 

 only known specimen. Suddenly, a year or two afterward, specimens were received for 

 ..determination from all parts of the country, and everywhere complaint was made of 

 injuries caused by the species, especially in hot houses. How happened it that for ages 

 the beetle was unknown, an inhabitant of some remote locality, and suddenly it should 

 .spread all over the States 1 



Prof. Lintner said he had the species since 1876 ; that year it was abundant in green 

 houses. 



Mr. Dimmock had known the species for some years as A 7 ery destructive to roses in 

 hot houses. 



Dr. Horn said he lirst obtained the beetle in 1874, or perhaps a little earlier. 



Mr. Hulst, referring to Prof. Lintner's remarks on 0. leucostigma, had noticed its 

 comparative scarcity on Long Island. The elm beetle was common. Another pest not 

 mentioned was a small insect apparently of the frog spittle nature on maple. Sometimes 

 the trees were white with it, and [many appeared dying off. A species of Chrysop>s was 

 also common, and seems to Lave been destroying the pest. 



Prof. Lintner had noticed the same insect ; it is a Coccid, Pulcinaria innumerabilis. 



Prof. Osboxm said it is very abundant on maple. It can be subdued by cutting the 

 infested branches before July. The young go first to the leaves. The female lives until 

 spring, the male dies in the fall. No less than seven different species of insects prey 

 upon this form. 



Mr. Saunders said the insect had appeared in Canada and Michigan in large num- 

 bers, the trees being sometimes completely covered. On some trees the larvae of Ghilo- 

 corus bivufoierus were found feeding on them in such numbers that they had caused alarm; 

 persons (hiding them supposed that they were the parents of the pest. 



Mr. Underwood inquired whether this insect was not also found generally on elm. 

 Mr. Rathvon had published an article on the subject, and had referred to its feeding on 

 elm as a rarity. It had been observed also on grape and Amjwlojjsis. 



31 r. Saunders had not observed it on elm in Canada. 



l)r. Horn made some observations on secondary sexual characters of Coleoptera. He 

 had been interested in Mr. Smith's studies on the external anatomy of Lepidoptera, and 



[ally in the remarks on secondary sexual characters. Somewhat similar antennal 

 structures were sometimes found in Coleoptera, but their uses in this order seemed better 

 known. In Collops was a structure closely resembling that of livnia. Here there was 

 the same excavated curved joint, at the base of which was an articulated slender spine like 

 app 'ndage, and the upper part of the antenme was capable of being folded backward. 



