HARDWiCKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



89 



New LEPiDorTEROus Insect.— In the Entomolo- 

 gist for February, Mr. C. S. Gregson gives a 

 description of a new lepidoptcrous insect bred by 

 Mr. Roxburgh. Its expanse of wing is from seven 

 to nine lines. Its hirva fed upon the remains of old 

 Lepidoptera in a neglected drawer. It is not known 

 how the eggs came there, but it is suspected that they 

 were introduced with dried fruits. He proposes 

 to call it Epliestia Roxhurghii, after the name of its 

 finder. — Claude Byan. 



Stings of Wasps and Bees. — In your number of 

 February, pages 44 and 4G, allusion is made to the 

 stings of queen-bees and of wasps. I beg to add 

 a word in reply to E. T. Scott regarding the latter. 

 "R. li. N. B." alludes to "the tube running down 

 the blade of the sting; but is that for economy and 

 strength, like a quill, or to convey the poison ? " 

 My answer would be both, and for the following 

 reason : — As I was cutting up a queen-wasp a week 

 or two ago, to mark the differences between queen- 

 bee ovaries and those of the queen-wasp (whilst 

 hyhernating) the sting was closely followed out, as 

 I was anxious also to prove the strength of the two 

 stings ; and when I applied the wasp sting to my 

 finger the mechanical action was soon discovered, it 

 stuck at once and came out like a stiletto at tlie 

 bottom of the sheath, but at an angle. If the tube 

 be pressed at the thick end, the dart comes out 

 instantly, and is retracted when the pressure is re- 

 moved from it, and there is no question the poison 

 is injected at the same moment ; but I was not 

 anxious for any "experimental philosophy" on my 

 own flesh. I tested the act with litmus-paper ; the 

 result was of course without evidence of disculoriza- 

 tion, as the sting had been removed from the killed 

 queen-wasp, and the poison-bag had been detached. 

 Of the stinging of living wasps, I have no doubt 

 from past experience, the sting is withdrawn by 

 working against the sheath ; not so the sting of the 

 worker- bee, as already shown by you.— F. A. 

 Munn. 



Union of Natural History Societies. — The 

 Committee of the Birmingham Naturalists' Field 

 Club suggest the desirability of similar societies in 

 various parts of the country uniting in a system of 

 correspondence for the purpose of exchanging lists 

 and specimens, and invite opinions as to the best 

 method of carrying this idea into practice. 



Don't neglect the Flies !— It has been 

 recently remarked that the overwhelming propor- 

 tion of entomologists not only neglect to collect the 

 numerous insects of the dipterous order, but also 

 pass them by as unworthy of notice. On the 

 European continent, we are told, these are a 

 favourite study, and yet I suppose our French and 

 German brethren have just as much reason to 

 regard flies with dislike as we have ; for there is no 

 question that we have, to an extent, an instinctive 



antipathy to these insects, ou account of the annoy- 

 ance some species inflict upon us. Still we ought to 

 remember, as Mr. Walker, the well-known dipterist 

 observes, "That a large part of them are especially 

 useful in the development of flowers, and thus 

 advancing vegetation, and in promoting the healthi- 

 ness of a climate by removing what has an opposite 

 tendency." 



Larv.e and Ichneumons (p. 283, last vol.).— The 

 Microgaster which usually attacks the larvae of our 

 common white butterflies {Brassiae and Rapce), 

 deposits so many eggs upon the body of its victim 

 that I believe when these hatch, as they almost 

 invariably do, the insect perishes before it can 

 become a pupa. There have been instances, how- 

 ever, where larvae attacked by parasitic enemies 

 have struggled ou in spite of them, and ultimately 

 developed imagos, which were partly crippled. It 

 is obvious that in such individuals the attacking 

 larvte could not have penetrated any vital part. 

 Some entomologists have succeeded in killing the 

 germs of life in parasitic eggs deposited upon larvae 

 by nipping them carefully, the slight wound made 

 soon healing up. — /. R. S. C. 



GEOLOGY. 



A Missing Link.— Professor Marsh has added 

 to his descriptive account of the strange fossil bird 

 met with in tiie Upper Cretaceous shales of Kansas, 

 and which he has included under a new sub-class 

 termed Odontornithes. We have already referred to 

 its piscine form of bi-concave vertebrae (Science- 

 Gossip, page 43). Further investigation has shown 

 this " missing link " to possess other characters, 

 which separate it still more widely from all known 

 recent and fossil forms. The specimen had well- 

 developed teeth in bothjaios ! The teeth were nume- 

 rous, and implanted in distinct sockets ; small, 

 compressed, and pointed. The jaws were apparently 

 not encased in a horny sheath. It is on account of 

 this possession of teeth that the Professor has esta- 

 blished for this extinct type the sub-class o[ Odontor- 

 nithes, or " toothed birds." He suggests that the 

 ArchcBopteryx, whose reptilian atfinity was shown by 

 its having a long slender tail like a lizard, may have 

 had teeth in its jaws also, and been the possessor of 

 bi-concave vertebrae. At any rate, this "new find'' 

 does much, as Professor Marsh shows, to break 

 down the old distinctions between' birds and rep- 

 tiles. The Archaopteryx of the Oolite had already 

 done a great deal; but the Ichthjornis dispar of the 

 Kansas chalk has done considerably more to remove 

 the hard-and-fast lines between two great divisions 

 of the animal kingdom. 



New Fossil Mammal. — There are few palaeonto- 

 logists who have worked with greater assiduity than 

 Professor Marsh, and his labours ou the Tertiary 



