The common white ant, Termes flavipes, destroys dead wood, stumps of trees and timber, just as does its nearest relative, T. lucifugus, in Europe. Of the latter species some cases are reported where living pines and oaks have been destroyed in the South of France. For T. flavipes, only one case is known, in which living grape vines in a hot house in Salem were injured. (S. H. Scudder. Proc. Boston, N. H. S., vol. 7, p. 287). Now 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. I was very much interested by the information from Mr. F. W. Putnam that in a garden in Irwing street living maples were largely infested by white ants. The evidence of the truth of this information was apparent by the first glance at the trees.

During the past winter an installation of about 100 arc-lamps was established at Akron, O. They haug as usual over the middle of the street. Early in the summer it was evident that they would afford a fine huntinggorund for the entomologist, and accordingly several members of the Natural History society of Akron resolved to turn the opportunity to account by making collections of the insects attracted by the light and compariirg and noting the results.

On the 20th October last, when in Brighton, Ont., I went to the woods in search of hybernating insects, and while examining the prostrate trunk of a small pine, found several female specimens of our large black ant, F. herculeana (ligniperda Latr.) in their winter quarters. Each ant was in an oval excavation in the wood, just under the bark, about an inch long and half an inch wide and deep. In each cell was found a single ♀ ant, together with from six to fifteen larvæ. On tearing off the bark, about half a dozen cells were exposed, on different and widely separated parts of the trunk. In one or two instances there was a single worker ant with the large ♀. The larvæ were about an eighth of an inch long, and were all alive. They were, in every case, crowded together in a mass, each one in the same position, with the head bent over in front. This observation is, I think, interesting, as it gives a clue to the manner in which colonies of this wood-destroying ant are established.

The object of giving this list in its present imperfect form is to call the attention of our Entomologists to this greatly neglected order of insects, and as most of the families are still in an unworked condition, to call especial attention to them; of course, the named species represent only about one fourth of all the species taken by me during my three years collecting, and were mostly taken in Fairmount Park, and a few at Delanco, N. J.

If a few of our many Entomologists would turn their attention to the Diptera, they would be sure to find an interesting and very wide field, in fact there would be room enough for nearly a dozen systematic workers in this order.

So far my records. From this time the remaining pupæ were taken to a room not heated, and gradually emerged hele, which they would probably have done at about the same time had they never been taken to a warmed room.

Crambus zeellus, n. s.

expanse of wings, from 18 to 24 m. m.

Palpi, head and thorax, pale leaden gray. The labial palpi extend forward as far as the length of the head and thorax. The maxillary palpi are as long as the head.

The common species of Acmaeodera, A. pulchella Hbst., which is marked with shining bronze-black and bright yellow, assimilates well in color with the flowers of Rudbeckia hirta L., so abundant along the edges of cultivated fields, upon which this Buprestid is found. The dark parts of the beetle, which are after an etched pattern, blend well with the rich dark stigmata of the flower, as the beetle lies next to these; while the bright yellow parts easily pass unnoticed in the inside border of the yellow corolla. It is noticeable that these flower-frequenting species are found chiefly on the flowers whose colors suit them best for protection; in fact the insects seem to have been modified in color to suit the flowers they live on. This species is seldom found upon any other flowers than those of Rudbeckia hirta L. I have once taken it upon the flowers of tansy, once upon a partially yellowed leaf of Œnothera, once upon a high dandelion flower, twice upon the orange-red flowers of Asclepias tuberosa L., and once flying about some of the many flower-bunches of a clump of sumachs. These are the only exceptions that I have noticed, and are but isolated instances.

The condition in which Coleoptera pass the winter is a subject on which there are in American literature but few recorded observations. That no species hibernates in the egg stage is highly probable, though in all the others it occurs—some wintering in the perfect state alone, some in the larva and the imago condition, and others as larva and pupa.

Many of the species appear to make some preparation, retiring to situations that will more or less protect them from intense cold; others seem to have power to survive without any practical protection, as Lixus concavus and Megilla maculata, to be mentioned further on.

[This paper, an excellent addition to an excellent American paper by Mr. W. Trelease (Psyche, vol. iv., p. 195), is published in the Jrmischia, vol. v., No. 1, p. 4, 1885. As it will be difficult for American students to have access to this periodicar, I have translated the substance. Dr. Thomas has seen only the record of Mr. Trelease's paper in Botan. Centralblatt, xx., p. 356, by Dr. Ludwig.—H. A. Hagen.]

Larvæ of Cecidomyia living in the spore-layers of Uredineæ are also found in Thuringia, Germany. In fact the discovery of the community in the same layer of two otherwise very different parasites is at first somewhat wonderful and startling.

Hydrophilus, as heretofore recognized in our fauna, contains two sets of species, the one series large, the other relatively small. They also differ in the form of the maxillary palpi and should properly be considered distinct genera defined as follows:—

Hydrophilus.—Terminal joint of maxillary palpi much shorter than the penultimate, the second joint long, arcuate. Claws toothed.

Tropisternus.—Terminal joint as long or even longer than the penultimate, the second joint moderately long and straight. Claws not toothed.

The large species belong to the first series, and but two have appeared in our lists.