G. GENERAL NATURAL HISTORY AND ZOOLOGY. 221 



and rising again as soon as it is resumed, this being: observed 

 many times successively. 10 A, October, 1870, 352. 



FUNGUS GROWTH OX INSECTS. 



It is a comfort to know that insects, while developing to 

 such an extent as to produce very serious injury and destruc- 

 tion to our interests, are themselves liable to attacks which 

 in time may destroy them, or render them comparatively in- 

 nocuous. Among the most important of these agencies may 

 be mentioned certain species of fungi, which occasionally at- 

 tack insects like an epidemic. One of these, the mycelium of 

 an Empusa, came to the rescue during a time when the for- 

 ests of Pomerania and Posen were threatened with total de- 

 struction by caterpillars. After a time it was found that the 

 caterpillars were swollen to bursting, white threads appear- 

 ing between the rings of the body, and ultimately causing 

 their death in such quantities as to save the forests from fur- 

 ther injury. The same parasite also attacks the common 

 house-fly, as well as the dung-fly, so as to almost annihilate 

 them in certain districts. The only order of insects not sub- 

 ject to the attack of the Empusa is said to be that of the 

 Neuroptera, while even amphibia and fishes occasionally ex- 

 perience its disturbing influences. 5 A, July, 1870, 293. 



NEW PARASITE OX THE ELEPHAXT. 



In the June number of Hardwicke's Science Gossip, a new 

 form of parasite, named Idolocoris, is described, which is 

 found adherent to the naked skin of the elephant of Ceylon. 

 It belongs to the order of Hemiptera, and is characterized by 

 Mr. Walker, of the British Museum, as forming the type of 

 an entirely new family. 4 A, Jwie, 131. 



PARTHEXOGEXESIS IX DIPTERA. 



A curious instance of parthenogenesis in Chironomus, a ge- 

 nus of diptera, is mentioned in the Memoirs of the Academy 

 of Sciences of St. Petersburg. In spring, the larva?, produced 

 in the ordinary way from eggs, grow rapidly, and after the 

 third change of skin attain their full size, showing distinct 

 traces of the pupa Avithin them. After the pupa stage has 

 been perfected the eggs are produced direct from it. In the 

 autumn the course of development during the preparatory 



