430 



ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 



March b, 1891. — Mr. Schwarz was elected corresponding secretary, vice Mr. Town- 

 send, resigned. Mr. Schwarz then resigned his position on the executive committee, 

 and Mr. Fernow was elected in his stead. Mr. Banks called attention to specimens 

 of Scolopendrella, Machilis, and Lepisma, taken during the winter iu Rock Creek, and 

 commented on the specimens. Two papers by Professor Riley were read in his ab- 

 sence by Mr. Howard. The first was entitled, "Notes on the Life- History of Megilla 

 maculata." It was an elaboration of a paper presented at a previous meeting of the 

 Society, on September 4, 1890. He gave descriptions of the egg and larva which had 

 hitherto never been described or figured, and also a r6sum6 of the habits of the insecjt 

 and larva. The larva, he stated, was altogether entomophagous, so far as known, 

 while the adults feed largely on vegetable material, and also, to some extent, on soft- 

 bodied insects, approaching more nearly in their food-habits, the genus Epilachna. 

 He stated that the beetles are known to feed on the pollen of plants, the blades of corn, 

 and also the soft kernel of the corn, wheat kernels, the larva and pupa of Lina scripta, 

 the larva of Diplosis tritici, and other soft-bodied insects. The paper was discussed by 

 Messrs. Schwarz, Turner, Howard, and Mann. Professor Riley's second paper was en- 

 titled " On the larva and some peculiaries of the cocoon of S2}heciHs speciosus,^^ and was 

 an elaboration of a note on the subject presented at a meeting of the society, September 

 4, 1890. Professor Riley gave a detailed description of the larva and drew attention 

 to a remarkable peculiarity of the cocoon of this insect. This peculiarity consists in 

 the presence of certain very anomalous pores which occur about the center of the 

 cocoon, extending nearly around it. These, Professor Riley stated, must be intended 

 for some special purpose, probably of ventilation or respiration. A general discus- 

 sion followed the reading of this paper, relating to the breeding of larvae and pupae, 

 especially in the case of subaquatic Coleoptera, and in Bombycids and other insects 

 having dense cocoons. 



Mr. Fernow presented a paper on the Nun Moth {Psilura monacha) which is pub- 

 lished in full in the present number of Insect Life, calling attention to its increase 

 in Germany and Austria during the past year, to the great injury, particularly of the 

 spruce forests. Discussed by Messrs. Howard, Schwarz, and others. 



A2}ril 2, 1891. — The publication committee reported the issuance of No. 1, vol. ii, of 

 the Proceedings and presented a number of copies for the inspection of the society. 

 On motion of Mr. Schwarz a copy of this number was ordered sent to each of the sci- 

 entific societies of Washington. The president announced the death of the lately 

 elected member, Mr. E. R. Tyler, and appropriate resolutions of sympathy and regret 

 were passed and a copy ordered sent to the family of the deceased. 



Mr. Banks presented a paper on mimicry in spiders. The author called attention 

 to the fact that the mimicking spiders belong to two widely separated families, 

 the Attidae and the Drassidae. Syneniosyna formica was considered the most perfect 

 in its resemblance to the ant, which insect all these spiders mimic. The various 

 geneira were compared, and the author decided that for purposes of deception, only 

 superficial and unimportant parts had been modified. Discussed by Messrs. Schwarz, 

 Howard, and Riley. 



Professor Riley presented a paper on " The Habits and Life-history of Didbrotica 

 12-punctata." He first referred to an article relating to the food habits of the beetle, 

 in volume i of Insect Life, page 59, in which, by a typographical error, the insect is 

 said to have "bred" upon, instead of "fed'' upon melons, the first statement being 

 justly called in question by Professor Garman in a recent article on this insect in 

 Psyche. He followed with a record of his notes on the corn-feeding habit of the larva 

 of this insect, which habit was first brought to his attention in the spring of 1883. 

 During that year and the two or three years following he had succeeded in bringing 

 together a full record of its larval habits, and an account was given of them. The 

 data were obtained from a study of the insects in Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, 



