Hawaiian Entomological Society
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PROCEEDINGS OF THE Hawaiian Entomological Society Vol.X, No. 3 For the Year 1939 August, 1940 JANUARY 5, 1939 The 397th meeting was held at the H.S.P.A. Experiment Station, January 5,1939, at 2: 30 p.m. Members present: Miss Margaret Poor, Miss Amy Suehiro, Messrs. Bryan, Ehrhorn, Fullaway, Holdaway, Illingworth, Mason, Pemberton, Rosa, Van Zwaluwenburg, Williams, and Zimmerman. In the absence of the President and Vice-president, Mr. C. E. Pemberton was appointed Chairman pro tem. The minutes of the previous meeting were read and approved. Mr. E. M. Ehrhorn reported that he had audited and found cor rect the financial report of the treasurer of the Hawaiian Entomo logical Society for the year ending December 1, 1938. PAPERS PRESENTED Mr. E. C. Zimmerman presented a paper entitled: "On the Genera of Anobiidae and Ptinidae Found in Hawaii (Coleoptera)." Dr. F. G. Holdaway presented a paper on "The Susceptibility of Bean Varieties to Melon Fly Attack." NOTES AND EXHIBITIONS Mr. E. M. Ehrhorn transmitted an interesting note reading as fol lows : A Singular Phenomenon.—A few evenings since a gentleman went into his bedroom, where a lamp was burning on the bureau, and noticed a large number of what, at first, appeared to be mos- quitos flying about. On looking around he found the bureau liter ally covered with large winged ants, from one-half to one inch in length, of a light red or rather flesh color. He set to work to destroy them, and killed over two hundred in ten minutes. They exhibited none of the viciousness of the small red ant, which will bite fero ciously, but so far as was noticed, were entirely harmless. On ex amining where the insects came from, he found them crowding through an aperture in the wall, evidently driven to seek shelter from the rain which was then falling quite freely. The next day he found a picket which exhibited the mischief done by these ants, which are 354 a new variety here, so far as we know. The inside of the picket was entirely eaten out, leaving a mere shell, which can be examined by the curious at our office. It will be seen that great damage may be done to houses by these winged ants, wherever they obtain a lodg ment. (The Pacific Commercial Advertiser, July 31, 1869.) Mr. Ehrhorn also exhibited a portion of a palm frond heavily in fested by Pseudococcus pseudonipae and remarked that this mealy bug showed no attack by the parasite of its near ally Pseudococcus nipae. Discussion on the distinctness of these two mealybugs followed. Miss Ethel Lucas presented some new host plant records for Hawaiian mirids: Hyalopeplus pellucidus Stal was, March 1938, breeding in the flower clusters of the avocado pear tree {Persea americana). One infestation was observed on the University of Hawaii campus, the other in Kaimuki. This is the first record in the Proc. Haw. Ent. Soc. of the avocado as one of its host plants. Pycnoderes quadrimaculata Guex. was observed breeding on the lower surface of okra leaves (Hibiscus esculentus) at the University of Hawaii vegetable gardens in May 1937. During October and November 1938, Cyrtopeltis varians (Dist.) was observed breeding on plumbago (Plumbago capensis) on the University of Hawaii campus. Adults' and immature forms of dif ferent sizes were found in the inflorescence. Swezey (Proc. Haw. Ent. Soc, Vol. 6,1927) found it breeding on tobacco at Makua; the only record to date of its breeding on a plant other than tomato, in Hawaii. Heliothis armigera (Hub.) (obsoleta) on potato.—Mr. Van Zwa- luwenburg reported that early in December Mr. H. C. Weight, of the Oahu Sugar Co., called attention to damage done to young potato foliage, in Field 62 by newly hatched larvae of this noctuid moth. The feeding was on the epidermis, and the infestation, which cov ered some six or seven acres, was soon brought under control by the spraying which is routine practice in the plantation's potato fields. Transferred for convenience to tomato foliage, the larvae grew rapidly and were soon damaging tomato fruits in characteristic fashion. The specimens are now in the pupal stage. Mr. Van Zwaluwenburg exhibited spectrographs made by Dr. S. S. Ballard,* of ash of the centipede (Scolopendra subspinipes), the Cypress roach (Diploptera dytiscoides), and the sugar cane beetle borer, adult (Rhabdocnemis obscura). Mr. C. E. Pemberton spoke of the Sugar Technologists meeting held last fall in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and of which he was chair man of the Entomological section. It occupied six full days. Twenty-five to thirty entomologists attended. The papers referred * Analysis printed in Nature, Vol. 143, p. 979, June 10, 1939. 355 chiefly to various phases of the sugar cane industry in Louisiana. An excellent paper at the meeting was on trapping the sweet-potato weevil by applying tangle foot to the cuttings. Another paper, on the sugar cane aphis in Formosa, stressed the fact that this aphis is strongly selective in its feeding on cane, preferring varieties of high brix content (rich juices). Mainland entomologists showed much concern over the spread and ravages of the white-fringed beetle, a species of weevil endemic to southern South America. FEBRUARY 2, 1939 The 398th meeting was held at the H.S.P.A. Experiment Station, February 2, 1939, at 2: 30 p.m. Members present: Miss Margaret Poor, Messrs. Browne, Bryan, Ehrhorn, Fullaway, Illingworth, Keck, Marlowe, Mason, Pember- ton, Rosa, Sakimura, Van Zwaluwenburg, Willard, Williams and Zimmerman. Visitors John F. Altstaetter, A. Gordon Galloway, Foo Kau Lee, and J. A. Verret, Jr. Vice-president Marlowe in the chair. The minutes of the previous meeting were read and approved. PAPER PRESENTED Mr. E. C. Zimmerman presented a paper entitled: "Revision of the Hawaiian Alleculidae (Coleoptera)." NOTES AND EXHIBITIONS Dr. F. X. Williams spoke of finding Culex mosquitoes quite nu merous up to or near the summit of Mt. Olympus. Strong winds were offered for this condition as observed previously on the same mountain. Mr. F. K. Lee thought these mosquitoes had their origin from puddles nearby, the recent weather having favored such. Dr. Williams also mentioned the relative abundance of the two immi grant damselflies, Enallagma civile and Ischnura posita, occurring far up in the cloud zone. Native species were rare, only two or three individuals were seen, one of which was identified as Megalagrion oahuense. Mr. D. T. Fullaway spoke of the near elimination at Hanalei, Kauai, of the ground-nesting termite (Coptotermes formosanus). Mr. Au employed the Paris green treatment. A discussion followed. Mr. R. H. Marlowe then introduced Mr. A. G. Galloway, of the U. S. Bureau of Entomology, who is superintending the processing of fruit in Honolulu for exportation. Mr. Galloway responded, and Mr. H. F. Willard also made some comments on the situation. 356 MARCH 2,1939 The 399th meeting was held at the H.S.P.A. Experiment Station, March 2, 1939, at 2:30 p.m. Members present: Miss Ethel Lucas, Messrs. Bianchi, Bryan, Ehrhorn, Mason, McBride, Pemberton, Rosa, Swezey, Van Zwalu- wenburg, Williams, and Zimmerman. President Bianchi in the chair. The minutes of the previous meeting were read and approved. Mr. John F. Altstaetter was elected to membership. PAPER PRESENTED Mr. E. C. Zimmerman presented a paper entitled "The Genus Viticis in Amboina (Coleoptera: Curculionidae)." NOTES AND EXHIBITIONS Podothrips lucasseni (Kruger).—Mr. Swezey called to attention that in the Review of Applied Entomology, Vol. 26, Ser. A, Part 8, p. 457, 1938, in a review of an article by Priesner (Bull. Soc. Ent. Egypte, 21 (1937), pp. 68-81, 13 figs., many refs., Cairo, 1938), Kentronothrips hawaiiensis Moulton is considered by the author to be the same species. Podothrips lucasseni was described by Kruger on cane in Java, in Berichte der Versuchsstation fur Zucker- rohr in West-Java, Heft I, p. 105, Taf. Ill B, figs. 8, 9, 1890, as Phloeothrips lucasseni. Priesner now places it in Podothrips, and considers Kentronothrips as a subgenus of Podothrips, and hawaii ensis Moulton a synonym. The latter was described from sugar cane in Hawaii in Proc. Haw. Ent. Soc, VII, p. 126, 1928. Bythoscopus robustus Uhler.—Mr. Swezey exhibited a specimen of this cicadellid collected on the windshield of his wife's auto as she arrived in front of the Experiment Station, H.S.P.A., March 1, 1939. As it was on the inside it probably had come all the way down from Manoa, and would indicate that the species is established there in the vicinity of Mr. Swezey's home on Lanihuli Drive. The only other record of it so far as known is that of the first capture at Kawela Bay, Oahu, April 23,1933. On behalf of Miss Amy Suehiro, Dr. F. X. Williams presented her findings on the clerid beetle, Tillus notatus KX, which she had recently taken on bean flowers at the University of Hawaii, Hono lulu. Miss Lucas had also found it at Waipahu. Mr. O. H. Swezey took it in Guam and it occurs also in the Philippines and elsewhere in the Orient. This is a new record for Hawaii. Mr. O. H. Swezey, being given the floor, gave an interesting ac count of his stay in Washington, D. C, and visits elsewhere on the mainland. .Many old-timers among entomologists at the National Capitol were mentioned. Mr. Swezey attended meetings of the large and flourishing Entomological Society of Washington, as well as 357 other scientific society meetings. He also attended a dinner given in honor of Professor Herbert Osborn, by his former students, of which Mr. Swezey was one.