Comparatively little is known of the insect fauna of the Bahama Islands, since most of the collectors who have gone to the West Indies have confined their attention chiefly to larger and better settled members of this great group, and as a consequence we have a tolerably fair knowledge of such of them as Cuba, Jamaica, Porto Rico, and Guadaloupe, with scarcely any records from the little rocky islets of which the Bahamas proper are composed. Late researches on the coast of Florida have shown a close affinity between the fauna of that region and of the Antilles, so that the study of the insects of the latter has now a direct bearing on that of those of our own domain. The short sketch which follows is intended merely as a preliminary account of a collecting trip to certain points in the British West Indies, and no more is hoped for than to give the reader a general idea of the coleopterous fauna of these at the time of year during which the collections were made. Only occasionally was it possible to land and work the country for insects, as the main object of the expedition, of which the writer was a member, was the study and collection of the marine invertebrata, and most of the time was necessarily devoted to them.

Tongue dark brown; basal joint of the palpi, and the second joint externally, and on the under surface, dark brown; upper surface pale ochreous; tip white; third joint dark ochreous, tipped with dark brown. Head pale bronzy brown, with purplish reflections, each scale tipped with white. Sides of thorax and base of the wings ochreous yellow, extending along the costal portoin of the wings, gradually narrowing to about the middle of the costa.

Aphids of the genus Cinara found in Canada east of the Rockies are, with few exceptions, large, dark in colour, and compact in form. They live entirely on coniferous hosts and each species is restricted either to a single species of plant, or to plants of the same genus. Their unvarying choice of a host plant makes it possible to separate the species into groups according to the genus of plant on which they occur; this characteristic is used in the following key.

“Tumble-bugs” have been interesting to human beings for centuries. As these chubby insects roll their balls across paths, roads, and walks, persons stop to puzzle, and whether country boys, soldiers, golfers, or scientists, all are fascinated by the ball-rolling habit of these creatures.

Recently. I was informed by a friend that he had a Carama from Washington, D. C. I naturally expected to see C. cretata, Grt.; but the specimen now before me proves to be Carama pura, Butl. This raises the question of the validity of the specific characters used in the genus. Caramas are rare in the United States, and it seems scarcely probable that we have more than one species. Mr. Baker, in his review of Carama, does not refer to cretata, Grt., though it is the fourth name in point of priority. It is evident from his synopsis, however, that cretata differs from ovina, Sepp., only in having the yellow colour confined to the vertex of the head, and from discrepans, Wall., in its smaller size and white front.

Male. Antennae weakly bipectinate. or more properly speaking lamellate and fasciculate, the width of each lamella being noticeably less than in the closely allied pulla Grt. Palpi and head clothed with rough blackish hairs ; tegulae crested,the basal portion deep smoky, the upper half light grayish tipped with darker, a fine blackish transverse line at the point of denemarcation of the two colors; patagia clothed with mixed gray and blackish hairs ; thoracic vestiture deep smoky with a small blackish median tuft on metanotum.

The genus described below appears most closely related to the genus Gronocarus Schaeffer (1927, p. 213). The description is based on a unique female collected in eastern Texas within a few miles of the Louisiana state line.

The following notes deal with three species in the genera Spudastica, Echthronomas and Campoctonus, and are based on material in the National Collection, supplemented by specimens loaned from the United States National Museum and the personal collection of Dr. H. K. Townes, to whom I am especially indebted for providing me with this additional material.

The generic name Bolbocerosoma was proposed by Mr. Schæffer in 1906 (Trans. Amer. Ent. Soc., XXII, pp. 250-254) to take care of the species Scarabaeus forcuts Fabricius and its supposed synonym tumefactus Beauvois. Oddly enough, the misgivings of M. Beauvois. recorded more than a century ago, that his species was “perhaps only a climatic variation” have been shared by all subsequent writers, and three additional forms have, doubtless, on this account failed to receive recognition. After carefully studying between two and three hundred specimens, the writers cannot concur in the opinion of Mr. Schæffer that “intermediates” occur, and that, therefore, the differential characters are unstable and valueless. It is true that an occasional specimen will deviate somewhat from the average color pattern of its species, but such specimens can in every instance be readily determined by the examination of the constant structural and genital characters diagnostic of the species.

Orthezia lasiorum, n. sp.—♀. About 2 millim, long; pale orange; ovisac (in specimens seen) not very long; two very long median white caudal lamellœ, about two-thirds length of body, curving over ovisac, but not attached to it. Dorsum covered with waxy secretion, but it is so easily deciduous that I have never found an adult with it sufficiently in place to describe. Middle leg with femur + trochanter 300 μ, tibia 240, tarsus (without claw) 180. Antennæ 7-jointed, the last joint with a terminal spine; joints measuring in μ: (1.)75–90. (2.)72–75.(3.)84–95. (4.)60. (5.)48.(6.)45.(7.)120–129. I have never found one with 8 joints, though I should expect such to occur.

The Geometrid moth described below cannot be placed in any European or American genus known to me, and I therefore venture to institute a new genus for its reception.

The genus belongs to the Ennominœ, and the absence of a tongue and the possession of the dordal abdominal tufts serve to separate it readily from all the other Americal genera of the subfamily, as none of them, I believe, posses these two characters in combination.

Sporadic outbreaks of many pine defoliators, including Orgyia hopkinsi Coll., have occurred in many pine plantations in Kenya in the last 20 years. A recent outbreak of O. hopkinsi is reported from young plantations in Turbo. Distribution, hosts, and epidemiology of the insect are discussed. The stages, life history, and habits are described. Eggs are laid on the bark close to pupation sites or on the pupal cases. The larvae feed on the foliage and pupate following the fifth instar. The life cycle lasts 76 to 94 days. Two species of parasites, namely Pimpla mahalensis Grib. and Pimpla sp. (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae), have been observed. Other controlling factors are also discussed.

Queen losses were compared when caged queens with attendant worker bees and caged queens without attendants were used in packages of honey bees being shipped from the southern United States to Canada. When the colonies were hived there was no difference in queen losses in the two treatments.

The new species described below were contained in a collection of saw-flies recently from Mrs. Annie Trumbull Slosson, and were collected on Mount Washington and at Franconia, New Hampshire. The collection was of interest on account of the number of species it contained which are evidently related to a boreal fauna.

Macrophya mixta,n. sp.—♀ Black, with the following parts white: two spots on the clypeus, the labrum, a spot on each mandible, two spots on the occiput pseudocaudad of the ocelli, a narrow line on collar and tegulæ, the anterior coxæ at apex and a narrow line at side, the middle and posterior coxæ at apex, the trochanters, the distal halves of the anterior femora, the anterior tibiæ beneath, the knees of the middle, all the tarsi except the base of the first segment and the apices of the others, a large spot on the posterior coxæ.