Article beginning on page 181.
Psyche 6:181, 1891.

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November is91 .] P5' 2TfUi'. 181
one remarkable fact about this occurrence was that these insects occupied a limited belt in the centre of the valley, and did not ex- tend to the elevated portions of the town on either side. There were no insects about the electric lights on the hillsides, and farther down in the valley the lights were fre-
quented only by Lepidoptera. Where the
small insects were most abundant the Lepi- doptera were wanting. Probably the small insects drove them away. Looking from the hillsides a cloudy phosphorescence was seen to extend over the city in an irregular sheet, with here and there patches and protuber- ances rising high above the common mass. Comparing the position of this cloud at
different times from seven until ten o'clock, it was evident that the centres of maximum density were moving northward, i. e., in the same direction that the insects moved in the early part of the evening. There was no
perceptible moisture in the air so that this cloud could not be attributed to mist. It must have been caused by the reflection of the city lights upon the glossy wings of these insects.
Prof. D. A. Saunders tells me that a very similar cloud passed over Alfred Centre, a village about twelve miles southwest of Horn- ellsville, on the evening of August 16. The insects in this case were flying ants with de- ciduous wings, so that, after the cloud had passed, their wings were found very abund- antly scattered over the ground.
This cloud
made its appearance about sunset and had passed over by dark.
It came from a steep
hill overlooking the town and swept across the town in a narrow belt, leaving the upper and lower parts unmolested. He has ob-
served other clouds during the year in Flor- ida, and says the inhabitants there are quite familar with them. A rather remarkable
cloud of this kind was particularly observed by him in the month of May at Sisco, Fla. The insects on this occasion were large, and had very glossy wings. The cloud began
about eight o'clock in the morning and lasted for half an hour. They seemed to rise
from a flat meadow densely overgrown with grass. They ascended to an altitude of about twenty feet, and continued the rest of their course in a horizontal direction. The cloud seems to have been confined chiefly to a twenty-acre lot and did not pass to adjacent parts. It was a warm, bright day, and the reflection of light upon their wings gave the cloud a striking resemblance to a snow~torm. Their wings were deciduous, and neighbor- ing pools were pretty much covered with
them. J. LAWTON WILLIAMS.
No~~s.-The Royal Society of New South
Wales offers a prize of the Society's medal and å£2 for the best essay containing the re- sults of original research on the injuries occasioned by insect pests upon introduced trees, the essay to be sent in before May I, 1893. The competition is in no way con-
fined to residents in Australia, but is open without restriction to all.
In Nature Notes for August Mr. R. T.
Lewis, on the authority of a correspondent in whose trustworthiness he has entire confi- dence, gives a curious account of the appre- ciation with which the song of the Cicada is heard by insects other than those of its own genus. The correspondent has frequently
observed in Natal that when the Cicada is singing at its loudest, in the hottest portion of the day, it is attended by a number of other insects with lovely, gauze-like, irides- cent wings, whose demeanour has left no
doubt on his mind that the music is the at- traction. The Cicada, when singing, usually stations itself upon the trunk of a tree with its head uppermost, and the insects in ques- tion, to the number sometimes of fifteen or sixteen, form themselves into a rough semi- circle at a short distance around its head. During a performance one of the insects was observed occasionally to approach the Cicada and to touch it upon its front leg or antennae, which proceeding was resented by a vigorous stroke of the foot by the Cicada, without,



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182 ps K'flh'. [November 1891
however, any cessation of its song.
The in-
sects composing the audience are extremely active; and so wary that they take flight at the least alarm on the too near approach of any intruder. Some of them, however, have been captured; and on examination these
"proved to belong to the same family as that most beautiful of British insects - the lace- wing fly, which, indeed, they closely resem- ble except as to size, their measurement across the expanded wings being a little over two inches; they have since been identified by Mr. Kirby at the British Museum as
Nothochrysa gigantea."-Nature.
PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES.
CAMBRIDGE flNTOMOLOGICAL CLUB.
10 ~ctober, 1890.-The 155th meeting of
the Club was held at 156 Brattle St.
Mr. S.
H. Scudder was chosen chairman.
The meeting was devoted almost entirely
to informal remarks.
Among other topics
Mr. S H. Scudder discussed further damage by white ants in New England. Referring
to remarks made by him at a previous meet- ing on the injuries to geranium cuttings in the forcing houses attached to Mt. Auburn cemetery, and to an article in the Canadian entomologist, by Dr. H. A. Hagen, on their abundance in Cambridge, .he proceeded to describe the injuries done by Termesftavz~es to tree ferns growing in tubs at the Botanic Garden in Cambridge, as well as to the tubs themselves. This had been pointed out to him by Mr. F. A. @inn and Mr. Cameron
of the Botanic Garden. He suggested the
practicability of using staves for the tubs made of galvanized iron, or some such ma- terial, in place of wooden ones. (See Psy- che, 1891, v. 6, p. 15.)
Mr. Scudder also called attention to the issue of a work on the genus Ornithoptera by Robt. H. F. Rippon.
Mr. J. H. Emerton exhibited a few sketches of A. poly/hemus in process of expansion. 12 DECEMBER, 1890.-The 158th meeting of
the Club was held at 156 Brattle St. Mr. S. Henshaw was chosen chairman.
Mr. Henshaw read a letter from Mr. Mann
in relation to vol. 4 of Psyche, action on which was necessarily postponed on account of the absence of a quorum.
Mr. S. H. Scudder read the first of a series of letters from Dr. T. W. Harris to Mr. Thos. Say, and the latter's reply. These letters will be published later in Psyche (See v. 6, PP. 57-60).
9 JANUARY, 1891.-The 159th regular meet- ing and 15th annual meeting (since incorpo- ration) was held at 156 Brattle St. Mr. S. H. Scudder was elected chairman.
The annual reports of the secretary and of the retiring librarian were accepted and ordered to be placed on file.
The annual report of the treasurer was pre- sented and referred to the auditors.
Owing to the absence of a quorum the reg- ular election of officers was postponed. Mr. S. H. Scudder then read the annual
address of retiring President Woodworth. The address was entitled "On the relations ' between scientific and economic entomol- ogy," and will be published in full in Pysche (See v. 6, pp. 19-21).
Mr. Scudder stated that by request of Mr. F. Bolles he had recently examined the con- tents of the stomach of three golden winged woodpeckers (Coletes awatus) which he
found to consist almost entirely of the re- mains of ants of several species. Consider- able discussion followed with regard to the insect food of several other birds, notably the English sparrow (Passer domesticus) and
also the kingfisher (Ceryle alcyon) and
kildeer and golden plovers. It seemed to be the general opinion that insects eaten by birds would be better preserved, owing to the chitine in their composition, than seeds, berries, and other more soluble material, so that when a bird had eaten any insects, un- less it was shot immediately after its meal, the insect remains would appear in excess. The second letter from Dr. Harris to Mr. Say, and the latter's reply was read (See Psyche, v. 6, pp. 121-123).




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