20 MUSEUM OF COMPARATIVE ZOOLOGY. [May, 



Sacken is in order and fills nearly two cabinets, forming a col- 

 lection of galls, gall-producers and their parasites probably 

 unsurpassed. This collection is somewhat enlarged by other 

 donations, and the curator will be very happy to receive new 

 objects belonging to this group of insects. Baron d'Osten-Sacken 

 intends to arrange the collection finally himself, in a scientific 

 manner. As he is unsurpassed in the knowledge of this inter- 

 esting family the collection will have no superior. 



The collection of Neuroptera and Pseudo-neuroptera, belong- 

 ing to the Museum, is now arranged and for the most part deter- 

 mined, filling two cabinets. This work is to be done again, as 

 the collection of the curator has now arrived from Europe, and 

 by permission of Prof. L. Agassiz is to be deposited in the Mu- 

 seum. Except the destruction of eight boxes (containing about 

 three-fourths of the Myrmeleon, one-half of the Chrysopa and 

 one-half of the Sialidas), the collection is in good order, and 

 has not sustained damages in transportation above the common 

 average. Just the most delicate objects, for instance the bio- 

 logical collection, and the easily broken small families, arrived 

 in perfect order. As the above-mentioned collection contains 

 the types of all the published North American Neuroptera and 

 Pseudo-neuroptera, besides the types of many other publica- 

 tions upon this group, the advantage of studying them will be 

 very great for everybody interested in this branch of entomology. 



The collection of Curculionidae of the late A. Deyrolle of 

 Paris, the princely gift of Mrs. A. Hemenway of Boston, is 

 without any doubt the greatest addition to this department, 

 and brings our collection of this family into the same rank with 

 the oldest and best worked collections in the world. As the in- 

 sects belonging to this family, almost without exception, live in 

 all parts of plants and trees, they form a considerable agency in 

 the policy of nature. As they are in other ways the most dam- 

 aging and injurious insects for agriculture and trade, so, by the 

 natural or artificial accumulation of certain kinds of plants, 

 growing out of the progress of husbandry, do they become for- 

 midable to man. A collection of this family was, therefore, a 

 special desideratum for a Museum like ours. Mr. E. Deyrolle 

 writes on the collection, which has arrived in perfect condition, 

 that it has been seen by the most prominent entomologists, and 

 that it has served as a basis for the work of the late Mr. Th. 



