379 
KEROSENE EMULSION AS A DETERRENT AGAINST GRASSHOPPERS. 
Grasshoppers were very abundant in central Texas during 1893. An 
interesting experiment was tried in an orchard by the staff of the State 
Experiment Station. A thorough spraying of the orchard treesresulted 
in the apparent destruction of none of the grasshoppers, but they soon 
ceased eating, left the orchard, and did not return to it for days. 
OBITUARY. 
We have learned since the publication of the last number of Insect 
Life of the death of two well-known writers on North American 
insects, both of whom will be greatly missed by entomologists. One, 
Mrs. Julia P. Ballard, wrote mainly on the popular side of entomology, 
and her recent book "Among the Moths and Butterflies " combined 
the most charming style of diction with the strictness of science as to 
its facts. Many of our readers may be interested to learn, as we were, 
that Prof. Harlan H. Ballard, the founder of the Agassiz Society, is her 
son. Her surviving husband, Addison Ballard, is professor in the- 
U niversity of the City of New York. 
The other death, which we greatly regret to have to record, is that of 
Mr. Edward Norton, a well-known writer on the Hymenoptera. Mr. 
Norton's papers were devoted mainly to the Tenthredinidse, although 
he catalogued the species Ophion, Anomalon, and Campoplex, and also 
published two careful papers upon ants. In addition to this his mono- 
graph of the Chrysididae of North America formed a basis for our study 
of this group in this country. Mr. Norton had not published any im- 
portant papers on entomology for the past fifteen years. 
ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 
February 28, 1894. — This meeting was devoted to an address by Prof. E. B. Ponlton, 
of Oxford University, England, on the subject of colors in insects, the object of the 
paper being to introduce a series of illustrations of recent work upon the uses of 
colors to insects in the struggle for existence. 
April 5, 1894. — A paper on the structure of the ovipositor in the Hymenoptera, 
by Mr. Marlatt, was read by the Corresponding Secretary. Mr. Heidemann exhib- 
ited specimens of a number of rare and interesting Hemiptera. Mr. Schwarz offered 
for publication a description of the Scolytid infesting pine cones. He also gave 
short notes on the distribution add probable origin of Fuller's Rose Beetle (Aramigus 
fulleri), on the larval habits of the Dermestid (Cryptorhopalum triste)-, and on certain 
abnormal growths found on the bark of the Paper Mulberry, caused by the Scolytid 
borer (Phlceotribus frontalis). These remarks were accompanied by the exhibition of 
specimens. Mr. Schwarz showed specimens of small insects mounted on cardboard 
triangles in such a manner as to leave the sternum free for examination and study # 
He also exhibited specimens of a Staphylinid (Oxyporus 5-punctatus), and called 
attention to the remarkable secondary sexual characters present in the male. 
May 3, 1894. — Rev. P. Jerome Smith and Mr. David M. Little were elected corre- 
sponding members. Prof. Riley presented some notes on Margarodes or Ground 
