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Psyche 6:15, 1891.

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January 1801.1 p5' ITHE. 15
gin of the fore wings in the males of all these species to accommodate the sexual scale- pocket in the medio-submedian interspace is a striking feature. The text, which keeps excellent pace with the plates, has many points of interest and calls attention to some interesting cases of mimicry.
Mr. W. F. Kirby has just published with
Van Voorst's successors a synonyn~ic cata- logue of dragon-flies living and fossil. It ex- tends to 202 pp. 8vo. They are arranged
systematically under families, subfamilies and divisions, the further subdivisions by Sehs and others, legions and groups, being ignored. So too all subgenera are regarded as genera. This has at least simplified the author's work, but can hardly be regarded as satisfactory. A number of new generic terms are employed for preoccupied names and in a few ca5es radical changes occur, as when Agrion is made to replace Calopteryx (because Latreille had fixed the type as the LibelZulu v*o of Linnd) and a new term Coenagrion employed for Agrion, carrying with it the subfamily name Coenagrioninae. Seiys strenuously
objects to this in the comptes-rendus of the Belgian entomological society. About 1800 nominal species are entered in 267 genera, besides a few in the appendix. 102 fossil bpecies are catalogued separately. The work appears to be conscientiouhly done and will certainly be of as great an assistance to the stu- dents of Odonata as that of Lepidoptera, pre- pared by the same author, is to its votaries. ---
THE MARCH OF HYPERCHIRIA 10.~1 have
carefully watched a brood of to larvae in their . marching, and have found the secret of their regularity. The leader spins a fine thread as he moves, and the larva next in order follows the thread, and spins one himself. If he follows the thread by feeling it at one side, instead of following on it, the thread which ib spun by No. 2 lies parallel with that &pun by No. I, and usually each thread will be followed by a larva, when the wedge-shaped "order of march" will result- No. I ahead, No. 2 following just a trifle at one side, No. 3 and No. 4 side by side. No. 3 following the thread of No. 1, and No 4 that of No. 2; No. 5 will follow No. 3; No. 6 will often feel the two threads and march be- tween them, when No. 7 will follow No. 4, and so the ranks will widen, The thread
can be seen plainly with a lens, and the pro- cess watched. If a larva loses his way he feels for the thread, and seems able to tell, by its surface, in which direction the proces- sion has gone, always following the right direction after a moment's careful feeling of the thread. Caroline G. Scale.
MORE DAMAGE BY WHITE ANTS IN NEW
ENGLAND. - At a recent meeting of the
Cambridge Entomological Club Mr. S. H.
Scudder showed the work of white ants,
Terniesflavi-pes, on the wooden tubs con- taining plants at the Botanic Garden. This and some of the culprits were brought
to him by Frederick A. Qinn, one of the
employes of the Garden, who stated that
they had destroyed some of the tree-ferns growing in such tubs. This shows that
the white ants are there increasing in num- bers and have become a real element of
danger, for in 1885 Dr. Hagen reported in the Canadian entomologist (v. 17, 134-135) that "the earth in the hot-houses here in Cambridge is largely infested by white ants, but as far as I know no destruction of plants has been observed." Two years later the
speaker pointed out (ibid., v. 19, 218) that geranium cuttings were attacked by white ants in the forcing houses attached to the Mt. Au- burn cemetery; but here we find a more seri- ous damage. On visiting the Garden Mr.
Scudder was shown by the head gardener,
Mr. Cameron, a plant almost completely de- stroyed in which the traces of their work were very apparent. The plant was Cyathea imignfs, four or five feet high. One of the same kind had been destroyed before and
thr0i.n away. According to Mr. Cameron,
the ants seemed to show a preference for the Purhf 6 015-16(p~-lTO3) hfp//psychenitclubo~6-OOI5 html



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long juicy stems of the fronds, to which they made their way through the trunk, while the latter was full of their droppings. The first outward sign of their attacks was seen in the drooping of the fronds. The inner sides of the wooden staves of the tubs were full of the irregular burrows of the white ants. Mr. Cameron also stated that a lot of cabbages in the vegetable garden attached to his house on the grounds were completely ruined by the attacks of these same white ants, as he found by inspection. Mr. Scudder recom-
mended replacing all woodwork in contact with earth or stone by iron, and particularly the discarding of all wooden tubs ; it would seem to be perfectly practicable to construct even the largest tubs of staves made of gal- vanized iron or some such metal.
AMPELOPSIS VEITCHII has been good hunt-
ing ground this year.
I have found on one
vine specimens of Deidainia. inscyi$fq one ; Thyreus Abbot//, several ; Everyx myron-, sev- eral ; AZy/ia octomaczilata, PyrofhiZa fym- midoides, both very abundant ; S$iZosoma vir- ginica, few ; wantria textor, few ; Lo'pho- cam@ caryae, many ; L. tessellaris, several ; and Cimbex ulmi, many.
Caroline G. Soiile.
A NEW SERIAL inconography is announced
under the auspices of Mr. Paul Mabille and Vuillot of Paris, to be called Novitates Lefi- dofterologicae. These authors contemplate the issue of at least one hundred monthly parts oflexicon octavo size, each with eight pages of text and one colored plate, illustrating new and little known Lepidoptera. Only 1150
copies are to be issued - a wrong to science -at the price of about three francs a part, A SPECIMEN of Vanessa milberfi, said to
have been taken at Polegate, Sussex, Eng- land, was exhibited at the South London en- tomological and natural history society
on
October 9th.
DR. CARLOS BERG, formerly attached to
the Museo public0 of Buenos Aires under
Burmeister, and well known for his notable contributions to the entomology of South America, has been appointed director of the Museo de Historia Natural of Montevideo, Uruguay, and is now removed to that city. PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES.
CAMBRIDGE ENTOMOLOGICAL CLUB.
13 January, 1888.-The 134th meeting was
held at 61 Sacramento St. Mr. S. H. Scud- der was chosen chairman.
The annual report of Mr. R. Hayward, the retiring secretary, was read and accepted. The report of Mr. B. Pickman Mann, the re- tiring treasurer, was also read and referred to the auditors. The retiring librarian, Dr. Geo. Dimmock, presented his report which was accepted.
A vote of thanks was passed to Mr. B. P. Mann for the use of his office on Follen St. as a storage place for the library of the Club since its organization.
A ballot for officers for 1888 then followed, which resulted in the election of the follow- ing gentlemen : President : William Trelease. Secretary : Roland Hayward. Treasurer :
Samuel Henshaw. Librarian : George Dim-
mock. Members at large of Executive Com- mittee : George Diinmock and Samuel H.
Scudder.
On motion the thanks of the Club were
voted to Mr. B. I?. Mann for his long and faithful services as treasurer of the Club. Mi-. Scudder being obliged to leave, Mr. S. Hanshaw was then chosen chairman.
On account of the absence of the president, Mr. J. H. Emerton, the reading of the annual address was postponed till another meeting. Mr. C. W. Woodworth showed a new
method for mounting small insects, which gave rise to some discussion; and Dr. G. Dimmock showed an apparatus for maintain- ing a constant temperature in raibing in- sects.




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