295 



MORE ABNORMAL HONEY-BEES. 



given winter of the probable abundance of the fly during the next summer. The 

 more you experiment in the direction set forth in your articles the more I believe you 

 "svill be juclined to agree ^Yith me. — C. V. R. 



Prof. A. J. Cook writes us under date February 15, as follows : . 



Yoti speak — Insect Life, p. 197— of abnormal bees. I have a still stranger case — 

 a bee half drone and the other half worker. This division is lateral. One side — jaw, 

 eye, wing, and leg — is drone, the other worker. I have seen several bees which have 

 head and thorax of worker and abdomen of drone, or vice versa. This longitudinal 

 sex differentiation is quite new to me. 



ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 



February 7, 1889. — Mr. Howard read a paper entitled " Notes on the hairy eyes of 

 some Hymeuoptera," in which he discussed the appearance of these hairs and reviewed 

 the very scant literature on the subject, calling attention to the fact that hairy com- 

 pound eyes occur here and there in isolated genera or groups of genera in many families 

 throughout the order, indicating the genera in which they are known. He announced 

 their discovery in a number of genera of minute Chalcids in which they had not be- 

 fore been recorded, and mentioned the curious fact that there was no gradation be- 

 tween a perfectly naked eye and an eye in which the hairs were comparativelj^ long 

 and perfectly plain. He concluded that these hairs were probably at present func- 

 tionless and of much less classificatory value than their apparent close relationship 

 with such an important organ as that of sight would seem to indicate. 



Mr. Smith remarked in discussion that in the Lepidoptera three variations in the 

 eye were used, i. e., the naked, the lashed, and the hairy. In the Noctuidjii these 

 variations were of generic importance. Mr. Schwarz stated that they were used 

 in the Coleoptera both specifically and generically. 



Mr. F. V. Coville read an interesting paper entitled ''Notes on Bombus and 

 Apathus at Ithaca, N. Y." He described his methods of observation, and gave at 

 some length the habits of Bomh us horealis and B. fervidus. He could find no distinc- 

 tion of the males of these two species. He had found, the males of Apathus elatus in 

 the nests of B. fervidus, but no males of the latter species. As the female oi Apathus 

 elatus is unknown, and as he had found the male copulating with the female of the 

 Bombus, he concludes that the species Apaihus elatus has no real existence. 



A general discussion followed this paper, which was participated in by Messrs. 

 Riley, Smith, Howard, Marlatt, C. R. Dodge, Schwarz, Marx, Townsend, Ashmead, 

 Mann, Fox^ and others. 



Mr. Ashmead read a paper entitled "A note on the genus Tetracuemus," referring to 

 Westwood's original description as giving 5-jointed tarsi and Walker's subsequent 

 redescription as giving 4-jointed tarsi. He exhibited two species from Florida, the 

 one an Encyrtid corresponding with Westwood's description, and the other an Eulo- 

 phid corresponding with Walker's. 



Dr. Marx commented on a letter received from Judge Johnson and identified sev- 

 eral species of spiders which he had sent to the society from Florida. He also stated 

 that he had been informed by letter that M. Simon, of France, had in his collection 

 a second species of the new genus Hypochilus. 



Wm. H. Fox, M. D., 



Recording Secretary. 



