1870.] 205 [Hagen. 



Section of Entomology. January 26, 1870. 



Mr. E. Burgess in the chair. Twelve persons present. 



Mr. F. G. Sanborn exhibited a drawing of the larva of 

 Cattosamia Promethea, made by the late Mr. C. A. Shurtleit, 

 together with the specimen after it had spun its cocoon ; a 

 memorandum written by Mr. Shurtleff on Sept. 17, 1860, 

 read as follows ; 



A full grown larva was just beginning to spin its cocoon ; on the 

 eleventh segment there was a portion of the old skin which it had 

 previous to the last moulting ; the skin formed a perfect ring, and of 

 course was very small for the full grown larva, the diameter of the 

 ring on the eleventh being .25 in., while the tenth segment measured 

 .37 in. in diameter. 



There was a little piece of the old skin on the wart on the tail. 

 The caterpillar appeared to be perfectly healthy and well formed, 

 excepting that it could not use the last pair of prolegs very well in 

 walking; it could, however, take hold with them to a certain extent. 

 It spun a perfect cocoon, and tried to cast its skin, but after bursting 

 the skin on the back, died before it could shed it. 



Dr. H. Hagen read a criticism of the views of Dr. Packard 

 concerning the Xeuroptera, as given in his recently com- 

 pleted " Guide," and explained that, in the manuscript of his 

 own " Synopsis of Xorth American Xeuroptera," he had, in 

 accordance with the views of the most prominent Entomolo- 

 gists for twenty eight years, distinctly separated the Pseudo- 

 neuroptera and Xeuroptera as two different parts of the 

 work. 



Dr. Hagen also remarked that Mr. Fritz Muller had sent 

 to him some white ants from Itahahy, St. Catharina, Brazil, 

 with the following remarks : — 



These nests of white ants are more or less regular cylinders, one 

 span high and two or three inches thick. By horizontal floors they 

 are divided into twelve or fifteen compartments or chambers. The 

 outer surface bulges out so that one can make out the number of 



