492 



animals being poisoned by these arsenicals are hardly to be relied upon, and that in 

 most instances the death had resulted from some other cause. Ho said in reference 

 to the work of the Commission that however carefully it might be done, the extent 

 of territory covered by the insect and the inherent difficulties of the task made him 

 very doubtful of ultimate success in eradicating the pest. He gave some facts which 

 he had gathered from conversation with Professor Shaler during his recent trip to 

 Boston, regarding the manner in which this insect had been allowed to escape by 

 Trouvelot. Professor Shaler had known Trouvelot very well, and said that he had 

 left a batch of eggs on a window sill and allowed them to be blown away. He also 

 referred to a spider, determined by Mr. Banks as probably Fardosa albomacuIata'Em., 

 ■which had been found by Mr. William H. Edwards to seize butterflies on the wing. 

 He referred again to the parasite obtained from EleodessuiuraHs, the cocoons of which 

 parasite he had exhibited and described at the previous meeting of the society. He 

 mentioned that the imago had since been obtained and turned out to be a species of 

 Perilitus, a fact of considerable interest because of the close relationship of this para- 

 site with the one bred from Megilla maculata and described and figured in Insect 

 Life, vol. i, as Perilitus americanus. Professor Riley also referred to the newspaper 

 accounts of the demise of the well-known French entomologist, a personal friend of 

 his, M. Kunckel D'Herculais, whose death is said to have resulted from an attack of 

 grasshoppers, which, at the instance of the French Government, he was investigating 

 in Algiers. These notes were discussed by various members. 



Mr. Schwarz read a note on the Chrysomelid genera Xanthoma and Trichotheca, 

 in which he pointed out that the femoral tooth of the latter genus appears to be 

 only a sexual character, and that in Xanthoma the male has also a small but distinct 

 tooth. Specimens of both genera were exhibited. 



Mr. Schwarz also read a paper on "Verdigris in Insects," giving a list of those 

 families or genera which are liable to verdigris in collections and adding some gen- 

 eral conclusions derived from his experience with verdigrised specimens. 



Discussed by Messrs. Riley, Howard, Schwarz, Pergande, Fernow, and Austin. 



Mr. Stedman reported the results of certain investigations which he had been con- 

 ducting on the character of the covering of the gills of aquatic larvte of Diptera, 

 stating that quite contrary to the formerly accepted idea, the gills aie covered with 

 a thin chitin, rather than a nonchitiuous membrane. This fact he had established 

 to his own satisfaction in the case of several species, and proposed to continue his 

 observations and present a full report later, 



C. L. Marlatt, 



Mecording Secretary, 



