1891.] Entomology. 293 
ENTOMOLOGY.! 
Dr. Lintner’s Sixth Report.—Through the kindness of the 
author we have been favored with Dr. J. A. Lintner’s Sixth Report as 
State Entomologist of New York. Though less bulky than some of 
its predecessors, the present volume shows the same painstaking prepar- 
ation that is characteristic of all of Dr. Lintner’s work. The report 
covers a little more than one hundred pages, illustrated by twenty-five 
figures, mostly from the writings of Riley, Packard, Glover, etc. After 
a short introduction of general and popular interest, there is a more or 
less complete discussion of the following insects : Eumenes fraternus, 
Hypoderma bovis, Drosophila sp., Adalia bipunctata, Dermestes lar- 
darius, Agrilus ruficollis, Coptocycla aurichalcea, C. clavata, Bruchus 
scutellaris, Hymenorus obscurus, Meloë angusticollis, Epicauta vittata, 
E. cinerea, E. pennsylvanica, Pomphopæa sayi, Podisus spinosus, Prio- 
nidus cristatus, Pulvinaria innumerabilis, Aphis brassica, Gryllotalpa 
borealis, Melanoplus femur-rubrum, Ixodes bovis, and Bryobiapra- 
tensis (?). To these accounts a list of publications of the author during 
1880, 1881, and 1889 is added as Appendix A, while Appendix B con- 
tains a list of contributions to the department. 
» Sexual Selection in Spiders.—Mr. and Mrs. W. G. Peckham 
have lately published ‘‘ Some Additional Observations on Sexual Selec- 
tion in Spiders of the Family Attide,’’? to which they append an 
interesting discussion of Mr. Wallace’s theory of sexual ornamentation. 
Observations on the mating habits of an undescribed Habrocestum, 
Attus leopardus, and Synageles picata are recorded, showing that the 
_ males during courtship so deport themselves that many of the bright 
markings are displayed before the female to advantage. The authors 
then take up Mr. Wallace’s attempt to explain the superior beauty of 
male animals without the aid of selection, by attributing it to their 
greater vigor and activity and higher vitality. ‘“ This proposition,”’ 
the authors state, ‘is a complexus holding within it three implications 
which must be proved before its acceptance can be demanded : First, 
that male animals have higher vitality than females second, that 
those males that have the highest vitality have also the most brilliant 
and intense colors ; and third, that the superior ornamentation of the 
_ males is due to their activity.” The authors discuss each of these 
1 Edited by Dr. C. M. Weed, Hanover, N. H. ` 
? Occasional Papers of the Natural History Society of Wisconsin, Vol. I., No. 3. 
