129 



ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 



October 2, 1690.— Messrs. J. M. Stedman, Nathan Banks, and F. W. Mally were 

 elected members of the Society. 



Under exhibition of specimens and notes, Dr. Fox exhibited a specimen of a small 

 spider, belonging to the genus Episinus, which was stated by Dr. Marx to be an un- 

 described species. 



Dr. Marx called attention to two spiders new to our fauna, one belonging to the 

 European genus Histopona, taken at Penn-Mar, Md., and also received from South 

 Florida, and the other a new genus of uncertain position, but possibly allied to the 

 Agalenidffi, represented by a single specimen taken on the grounds of the Department 

 of Agriculture. 



Mr, Marlatt exhibited a specimen of Trypeia cequalis Lw. which he had bred from 

 the seed-pods of Xanthium and the larval habit of which he had described at a pre- 

 vious meeting of the Society. 



Mr. Marlatt then presented a paper on ** Some Observations on the Habits of Vespa 

 germanica and V. cuneata.'" The feeding and nesting habits, particularly of the first- 

 named species, were described. Three kinds of nests were mentioned, viz, the very 

 rare aerial ones, those beneath stumps or stones and those in open ground, the latter 

 "being much the more common. Various insect and mammalian ,enemies of these 

 wasps were alluded to, together with the means employed to destroy the nests when 

 their proximity to dwellings renders them objectionable. Discussed by Messrs. How- 

 ard, Schwarz, Fox, Dodge, Stedman, Marlatt, and others. 



Mr. Howard read a paper entitled '"A Xew Eemarkable Genus of Encyrtinae," in 

 which he characterized a new genus and species which possesses the peculiar ramose 

 antennae, hitherto peculiar in the subfamily Encyrtina, to Teiracnemus diversic^rnis of 

 Westwood. Mr. Howard has named the genus Tanaostigma and the species T. course- 

 tice from Coursetia (?) mexicana, a rare leguminous plant collected in the Alamos Mount- 

 ains, Mexico, by Dr. Edward Palmer, and in the ovaries and stigma of which the 

 insect breeds. Discussed by Messrs. Schwarz, Howard, and Marlatt. 



Dr. Marx gave an interesting account of his recent experiments to determine 

 whether the bite of Laihrodectus macians is poisonous or not. He described the poison 

 glands of Lathrodectus which are remarkably small. He had introduced the poison 

 in various ways into guinea-pigs and rabbits without obtaining any satisfactory 

 results, and proposed to vary and continue his experiments to put the matter of the sup- 

 posed poisonous nature of the bite of this spider, if possible, beyond doubt. Discussed 

 "by Messrs. Schwarz, Howard, Fox, and Marlatt. 



Mr, Ulke, who was present, gave an interesting description of the habits of Tachys 

 incurvus Say, which he had found in numbers in the nests of ants, and which is the 

 first Carahid to be determined as truly myrmecophilous. He also described the habits 

 of certain myrmecophilous Staphylinidee, and exhibited a small collection of Coleop- 

 tera made by Mr. T. Ulke, illustrating the local fauna of the Black Hills district. 

 Discussed by Messrs. Schwarz, Howard, and Marx. 



In connection with the subject of local faunas, Mr. J. B. Smith's recent catalogue 

 of the insects of New Jersey was taken up and discussed at length by the Society. 



Mr. Townsend communicated for publication a generic synopsis of the first five 

 ^oups of the North Amercan calyptrate Mnscidae. 



C. L. Marlatt, 

 Recording Secretary. 



o 



