The doctor illustrated his lecture with specimens of stuffed birds, which were passed round through the audience as he proceeded, thus more forcibly presenting the leading features and characteristics of the different species and families of our native songsters; their habits of life, whether the friends of the horticulturist, or obnoxious to his interests. There are but few of our native birds that are not our friends. It was highly appropriate that the conclusion of such a lecture should be immediately followed by music by a select choir of young ladies, of Dublin, after which, Dr. Warder, of Ohio, entertained the Society with some very appropriate remarks on elementary entomology, a subject of great interest to the fruitgrower. It is a source of regret that the doctor should not have had his lecture written, as it was full of practical hints on the subject of insect life. "Insects are little creatures, but the annual losses occasioned by their depredations upon our industries amounts to many millions of dollars. Much of this loss might be avoided, if we were thoroughly conversant with the habits of insects. This entomology teaches us. I know that the terms used in scientific entomology are rather hard and difficult to remember, but there are certain elementary principles which we may all understand without much difficulty. If I had a blackboard I would be enabled, by a few plain illustrations, to make myself much more readily understood. The misuse of terms is one of the most common errors in our every-day remarks on the subject of entomology. Nothing is more common than to hear the terms bug and beetle, and moth and butterfly confounded. All true insects are made upon one common plan. They each have the larval, the pupal, and imago or perfect state. Insects are divided into six general families. The beetles are shelly insects with six legs. They also have strong jaws or teeth, with which they cut, and, in a measure, masticate their food. The moths and butterflies are embraced in the second family. Then we have the flies, or two-winged insects. Following this family are the bugs. House wives have often been painfully familiar with the type of this family. Then we have the grasshoppers (locusts), and last, the bees, ants, etc. But the metamorphosis, or different stages, in some of these families is not so marked as in others. The grasshopper (locust), for instance, is born a little grasshopper, and simply progresses from one stage to another, continuing his form and shape as a grasshopper. It is in the larval state that insects are most injurious; they are then voracious feeders. In the pupal and perfect state, many of them do not take food at all. I regret exceedingly that Prof. Riley is not with you to-night. A lecture from him on this subject would be of incalculable value to you. When Prof. Riley was an attache of the Prairie Farmer office, the Missouri people discovered in him recognized merit. They consequently created the office of State Entomologist, and tendered him the place. He there won a national reputation. It is to him that we are indebted for a correct knowledge of the habits of the Rocky Mountain Locust. He carefully defined its eastern limits, and allayed the fears of many who were in constant apprehension of a devastating swarm of those voracious creatures. I hope you may be more fortunate next year in securing his attendance." The catalpa speciosa was the subject of some interesting remarks by Dr. Warder, who has made the tree a study, and is never weary of rehearsing its praises. The tree he so highly commends is not the crooked, stunted species, sometimes seen along the streets of our towns and cities, but a taller, straight-bodied variety, which is a native of south-western Indiana and parts of Missouri, Tennessee, etc., bordering the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. It is the tree from which the Indians made their light canoes, and the old French settlers built their stockades, some of the posts of which are still standing unharmed by the weather. Specimens of the wood that were partially buried by the earthquake at New Madrid in 1811, were exhibited sound and uninjured by air or water. It is without doubt an exceedingly valuable timber for posts, and all uses where exposure is necessary. At the close of Dr. Warder's remarks, the Society adjourned to meet at 9 o'clock A. M. to-morrow. THIRD DAY. MORNING SESSION. At 9 o'clock A. M., Thursday, December 18, President Johnson called the Society to order, and stated that the first thing on the programme would be the selection of a place for the next meeting. A. J. Royalty, President of the newly organized Society of Montgomery county, invited the Society to hold its next annual meeting in December, 1880, in the city of Crawfordsville. Secretary James Calloway, of said Society, also urged the claims of Crawfordsville. In connection with the location of the next meeting, Indianapolis was also named, but a majority of the members present having voted for Crawfordsville, it was declared the choice of the Society, and that the twentieth annual session would be held in accordance therewith, on the 14th, 15th, and 16th of December, 1880. The President then announced the following Committee on the Revision of the Star Fruit List: D. E. Hoffman, Allen Furnas, and C. M. Hobbs. Also, the following on Final Resolutions: L. B. Case, Daniel Bulla, and W. H. Vance. The following delegates were then appointed to attend the annual meetings of other State societies: Ohio-Mrs. Louise V. Boyd. The Secretary having a number of reports, papers, etc., which were written for the Society, and which were crowded out for the want of time to read them, was directed to publish such in the transactions as papers placed on file without reading: (See Appendix.) D. E. Hoffman then read his report as Fruit Committeeman for the fifth district. REPORT OF FIFTH DISTRICT FRUIT COMMITTEE. In presenting a report as member of the State Fruit Committee for the Fifth District, I can only refer to that portion of it that came under my immediate notice, which is the northern portion, while the district extends nearly one hundred miles further south. It is a well-known fact that a few miles often show a decided variance produced by climatic influence on the horticultural products of one portion when compared by another, and as I have no information of the horticultural condition of the southern portion of the district, I leave that unnoticed, Most of you remember that the 1st day of January was a clear, warm and pleasant winter day; the ground was covered with snow, which was fast disappearing, and at 9 o'clock in the evening the mercury dropped a few degrees below freezing, |