ENTOMOLOGY. 1 



Insects and Drouth.— The year 1880 is known to have been 

 phenomenal in the excessive drouth which prevailed in spring 

 and early summer in the New England States. In a yet unpub- 

 lished account of the disastrous work of the Army-worm that 

 year (contrary to the old theory that it can abound only in a wet 

 summer) in Monmouth county, New Jersey, Rev. Samuel Lock- 

 wood, of Freehold, speaks as follows of the exceptional abund- 

 ance of other species : 



" As for that Colorado pest, it was out early and in vast num- 

 bers, and by June 1st the Striped beetle {Lylta vittata Fabr.) fell 

 upon the potatoes in hordes so vast that some farmers, because of 

 the activity and numbers of the insect, declared it more formida- 

 ble than the Colorado scourge. And that queer beetle, Macra- 

 noxia variolosa. Hentz, so rare that I had never yet heard of one 

 in Monmouth county, appeared in the first week of June at Red 

 Bank, in quantity. In the same week our clouded yellow butter- 

 fly (Colias philodice Godart) made a premature appearance in im- 

 mense swarms. Another sight which affected me because of its 

 novelty, was the occurrence in great numbers, in the openings of 

 " The Pines," in the second week of May, of a low flying brown 

 butterfly like a Hipparchia. Tempting as the scene was, I was 

 too ill that day to get out of my carriage for a butterfly hunt. 

 But enough has been stated to show that from every point 1880 

 was, for New Jersey, a phenomenal year." 



Probable Sound Organs in Sphingid Pure.— In recently 

 characterizing the pupa of Sphinx catalpa Boisd., for our report 

 as entomologist to the Department of .Agriculture, we were 

 struck with the occurrence on the anterior border of each of the 

 larger, movable, abdominal joints (viz: abdominal joints 5, 6 and 

 7) of a peculiar, elongate concavity, a structure not mentioned by 

 Westwood, Burmeister, Kirby, Spence, Girard, Clemens, Harris, 

 Graber or any modern author whom we have been able to con- 

 sult. There is an approach to it in the pupa of Ccraiomia 

 amyntor, and it occurs in that of SpJtiiix tiarrisu, in similar posi- 

 tion and form as in catalpw. In Marrosila ^-maadata it is some- 

 what above tin- spiracles, and that on the fifth abdominal joint has 

 a second larger. ridge running around it posteriorly. It does not 

 occur in any of the species of the genera Sesia, Thyreus, Darapsa, 

 I)c 'j< phila, Philampelus ami Smerinthus in our collection. It has 

 no internal connection with the respiratory or circulatory systems 

 and its function is probably sound-producing by friction with the 

 posterior margin of the preceding joint. 



I his organ may in fact throw some light on the method by 

 which the noise is produced which the pupa of Sphinx atropos is 

 *Thi« department is edited by Professor C. V. Riley, Washington, D. C.to whom 



