126 Proceedings of Societies. [ February, 
Professor Riley read a paper on the use of Paris green as an insecti- 
cide, reciting several important experiments, from which he drew the fol- 
lowing conclusions : — 
(1.) Paris green that has been four months in the soil no longer re- 
mains as such, but passes into some less soluble state, and is unaffected 
by the ordinary solvents of the soil. 
(2.) When applied in small quantities, such as alone are necessary in 
destroying injurious insects, it does not affect the health of the plant. 
(3.) The power of the soil to hold arsenious acid and arsenites in insol- 
uble form will prevent water from becoming poisoned, unless the green 
be used in excess of any requirement as an insecticide. 
He alluded to some of the potato-bug poisons, one of which, made up 
of salt and arsenic, was more dangerous than others, because it was liable 
to be mistaken for common salt. 
January 4th, annual meeting. Prof. C. V. Riley was elected pres- 
ident. He remarked on a new use of the wood of the American agave, 
as a lining for insect-boxes, instead of cork. He exhibited strips of the 
wood, twelve by four inches, and one half inch thick, which answer this 
purpose admirably, the wood being remarkably light and porous, and pins 
being pushed into it with great ease and held firmly. It is much cheaper 
than cork. The celebrated traveler, Mr. A. R. Wallace, preserved all 
his valuable entomological collections in the East Indies in boxes. made 
of pieces of this wood pinned together with thorns, and it is now coming 
into very general use. ! 
ACADEMY OF NATURAL Sciences, Philadelphia. — December 28th, 
annual meeting. The curators announced that the new building erected 
for the academy was so far completed as to be ready for the reception 
of its collections. The removal of the museum from the building now 
occupied was commenced on the 2d of November and was completed last 
week. It is proposed shortly to commence the removal of the library, 
and the curators anticipate having the new hall ready for the future 
meetings of the academy early in January, 1876. 
~ The concluding thirty pages of the Proceedings for 1874, and four hun- 
dred and twenty-seven pages of the Transactions, have been published, 
the latter being illustrated by twenty-four lithographic plates and ninety 
the sale of the premises at present occupied by the society, the removal 
of the collections to the new building at the southwest corner of Nine- 
teenth and Race streets, and the junction of the American Entomological 
Society with the academy as a section thereof. 
