26 



MUSEUM OF COMPARATIVE ZOOLOGY. [Apr. 



stages, and the abnormal forms of cocoons spun by diseased 

 caterpillars. 



Equally complete, as far as possible, is the series*of the other 

 American silkworms : S. cecropia, S. Columbia, A. Polyphemus, 

 A. luna. The series of the latter species is very instructive, 

 showing the difference in cocoon and imago produced from spec- 

 imens raised in Europe, upon food different from that of the 

 Texan specimen. Other cases, arranged after the same princi- 

 ple, contain American galls with their producers and enemies. 

 There are also more or less complete series of other species of 

 insects. Such collections of course grow slowly, because the 

 materials come to hand only occasionally. Many of these are 

 raised by myself. 



A new arrangement of several parts of the collection of Neu- 

 roptera has been completed, viz. : the Ephemerina, the Psoriua, 

 the Myrmelionina, the Ascalaphina, and in part the Termitina. 

 The latter family, without doubt the most complete collection 

 now existing, has lately been enriched by interesting Brazilian 

 specimens, presented by Dr. Fritz Miiller of Itajahy, Brazil. 



The collection of European Lepidoptera, consisting through- 

 out of first-class specimens, is considerably increased, chiefly in 

 Micro-lepidoptera, by the specimens from Professor Zeller, Dr. 

 Schleisch and others. Before this, the collection contained 

 about one-thirtieth of the known species ; it has now about two- 

 fifths, in excellent and typically-determined specimens. Gener- 

 ally, it is difficult, without heavy expenses, to form a collection 

 of three-fourths of the published species of any given order ; 

 and to go beyond this involves extraordinary expense. Consid- 

 ering these facts, our collection is very well advanced. 



The collection of European Coleoptera is unusually complete, 

 chiefly through the liberality of Professor C. A. Dohrn of Stettin. 

 The Museum catalogue was sent to him to show our desiderata ; 

 consequently the whole lot presented by him is new to our col- 

 lection, and consists, for the most part, of type-species of rather 

 difl&cult genera, many of them first-class varieties even in 

 Europe. This lot contains Micros, and rare insects in very fine 

 condition. 



The order of Diptera, before very defective, has unexpectedly 

 received a great accession. The whole collection of Xorth 

 American Diptera deposited by the Baron Osten-Sacken, is well 



