1 882.] Entomology. 65 



Interest Felt in Economic Entomology in California.— 

 The Board of State Horticultural Commissioners issued a call 

 for a State Convention of fruit-growers, shippers, packers, nursery- 

 men, and others interested in horticulture in California, to be held 

 at the Senate Chamber, Sacramento, on Tuesday and Wednesday, 

 the 6th and 7th of December, 1 881, to commence at 10 o'clock, a. 

 m. of the 6th, for the purpose of consultation and discussion of 

 the most practical means of exterminating the insect pests, now in- 

 festing the orchards and gardens of that State ; and such other 

 subjects as may be introduced for the improvement of the fruit- 

 growing industries of California. The Central Pacific Railroad 

 Co. kindly allowed a two-thirds rate of fare from all their 

 stations in California, to persons attending the convention, and 

 issued instructions to their agents at all points in California, 

 to sell tickets at a two-thirds rate of fare. 



Obituary. — We regret exceedingly to have to record the death 

 of Joseph Duncan Putnam, president of the Davenport Academy 

 of Natural Science. He died on the 10th of December, at his 

 home in Davenport, in the 27th year of his age, having been born 

 in Jacksonville, Ills., Oct. 18, 1855. From boyhood, Mr. Putnam 

 found fascination in the study of nature, and as he grew older, 

 gave more and more attention to entomology. In 1872 and 1873 

 he traveled and collected in Colorado and Wyoming, in company 

 with Dr. C. C. Parry. By the people of Davenport he will be 

 most remembered for his unflagging efforts in behalf of the Acad- 

 emy of Sciences, which is so largely indebted to him. In ento- 

 mology, his chief work was on the Coccids, and at the time of his 

 death he was still deeply interested in the family, and in the 

 Solpugidae. Soon after his return from the West, in 1872, he 

 contracted a severe cold, from the effects of which he never 

 fully recovered. We first became acquainted with the deceased 

 about that time, when he Avas greatly emaciated and racked 

 by a very severe cough. Of late years he seemed to grow 

 stronger, and get more free of his lung trouble, so that there was 

 hope of prolonged life and usefulness for one who made friends of 

 all whom he met, by a quiet modesty and lovable disposition, 

 combined with diligent study, earnestness and enthusiasm, all the 

 more remarkable, because of the physical suffering he struggled 

 with. His bereaved family have our heartfelt condolence. 



The announcement of the death of Count Georges Vandalia 

 Mneszech, on Nov. 17th, at Paris, aged 58, has also just reached 

 us through the editor of Psyche. He had one of the moste~ f -" c 

 collections of Coleoptera in the world. 



