291 



The majority, therefore, required only a little more than two days as 

 their period of incubation. The larvae were white, eyeless, cylindrical, 

 active grubs ; their bodies, exclusive of the head, with thirteen segments. 

 These segments are beset with long hairs, the terminal segment ending 

 in two curved spines, which probably aid the larva in locomotion. They 

 were supplied with no food except blood-pellets (the supposed excreta 

 of the adult flea) that had been left with the nits, etc., on a cloth by a 

 sleeping dog. They were suspected, however, of cannibalism, as their 

 numbers thinned with no other apparent cause. On October 25, the 

 seventh day after leaving the egg cases, the surviving individuals were 

 found curling up and otherwise acting as though about to pupate. 

 Upon noticing this they were supplied with a fragment of "puttoo," 

 into which, though eyeless, the larvae quickly swarmed, and there spun 

 little white silken cocoons. November 2, most of them quitted their 

 cocoons as perfect active fleas. They were, therefore, in the eggs for 

 something over two days, as larvae for six days, and pupae for eight 

 days, attaining their adult state on the seventeenth day after the depo- 

 sition of the eggs. This is a much shorter period than given by older 

 writers — Westwood, followed by Packard — who affirm that fleas are 

 larvae for twelve and pupae for eleven to sixteen days. However, this 

 may in part be due to the warmer climate of India, where the observa- 

 tions just detailed were made. 



THE ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 



January 9, 1890. — The annual meeting of the Society was held and the following 

 officers were elected for the ensuing year : 



President, George Marx; Vice-Presidents, C. V. Riley and L. 0. Howard; Record- 

 ing Secretary, C. L. Marlatt ; Corresponding Secretary, Tyler Townsend; Treasurer, 

 B. P. Mann; Executive Committee, E. A. Schwarz, Otto Heidemanu, W. H. Fox. 



Mr. W. H. Wenzel, of Philadelphia, was elected a corresponding member. 



The retiring president, Mr. E. A. Schwarz, then delivered an address upon "North 

 American entomological publications," after which remarks were made upon the 

 address by Messrs. Howard, Riley and Smith. 



Mr. Riley expressed the opinion that the recognition of scientific matter, whether 

 descriptive or otherwise, in weekly or monthly periodicals would always depend upon 

 the character of the author of the work and of the periodical ; that synonymy should 

 not be affected by the publication of descriptions in newspapers or periodicals which 

 did not have a natural history character, or which did not maintain a regular natural 

 history department. 



Mr. J. B. Smith was of the opinion that publications to be recognized in literature 

 should be in accessible journals, or in other words, in works which were put on sale, 

 so that copies could be obtained without favor. 



The thanks of the Society were voted to Mr. Schwarz for his address. 



B. Pickman Mann, 

 Acting Recording Secretary. 



February 6, 1890. — Mr. Schwarz presented a list of the blind or nearly eyeless Coleo- 

 ptera, hitherto found in the United States, exhibiting in that connection a very full 

 collection of the blind species. The list of the cave-inhabiting species is the same as 



