222 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 



changes is precisely the same. The pupa, however, then 

 changes into the perfect insect, which deposits eggs, probably 

 after copulation, in the usual manner. 13 A, October 22, 14. 



HABIT OF REDUVIUS. 



Mr. Meehan, of Philadelphia, reports a curious fact in the 

 natural history of a well-known bug, the Meduvius novenari- 

 us: He had previously mentioned his discovery that this in- 

 sect stored up turpentine in its body, but for what purpose 

 lie was then unable to ascertain. He has since discovered 

 that it is used for fastening its eggs to the branches of trees, 

 and sticking them together, and also, in all probability, as a 

 means of protection against enemies and the weather. The 

 eggs of this insect were inserted in groups, and each one set 

 upright, one against another, with the turpentine, like the 

 cells of the honeycomb. He does not think that this matter 

 is a secretion of the insect itself, but believes it to be simply 

 turpentine gathered up and stored away. 2 Z>, 1871,50. 



NAIL-NIBBLING PROPENSITIES OF THE COCKROACH. 



Dr. M'Leod, the well-known editor of the Sunday Maga- 

 zine^ in an account of his adventures during a recent trip to 

 India, denies the nail-nibbling propensities of the cockroach, 

 possibly because he himself had not suffered from their at- 

 tacks. His assertion, however, has met with a rejoinder from 

 a correspondent of Nature, who writes that a friend had re- 

 quested him to state that while passing from Kurrachee to 

 Bombay, by sea, he was annoyed one night in his berth by 

 some insect crawling upon his face, and, half asleep, half 

 awake, he put up his hand and sent the insect to the foot of 

 his berth. Shortly afterward he was awakened by a pain at 

 his great toe, and, looking at it, he discovered that the cock- 

 roach had nibbled off all the nail down to the quick. 12 A, 

 November 10, 27. 



RELATIONSHIPS OF PHYLLOXERA. 



Among the insects most destructive to the vine, although 

 but recently noticed, is a form known as the Phylloxera vas- 

 tatrix, or vine-root louse, which has lately excited much at- 

 tention in France from the amount of injury it bids fair to 

 cause to the vineyards. This is found in the ground about 



