G. GENERAL NATURAL HISTORY AND ZOOLOGY. 329 



assimilable analogous to peptones, and emulsionizing the 

 fatty portions. Finally in the terminal part of the intestine 

 are reunited the residues of the work of digestion, and the 

 secretions of the Malpighian tubes, which are purely urinary 

 in their nature. These researches complete and confirm 

 throughout the results of Plateau's former researches on the 

 digestion of insects, published in 1874. Bulletin Academie 

 Hoy ale J Belgique^ XLL, 1876. 



A NOISE-PRODUCING SPIDER. 



Mr. Mason has exhibited to the Asiatic Society of Bengal 

 specimens of a gigantic spider, of the genus Mygale^ which 

 possesses the power of making a strident noise. The sono- 

 rous organ of this animal is a comb formed by numerous elas- 

 tic teeth of a chitinous nature, placed upon the lower face 

 of the maxilla, and a scraper, composed of an irregular range 

 of fine points on the external side of the chelicera. The aj)- 

 paratus is found in both sexes, as is the case with many of 

 the coleoptera, instead of being restricted to the males, as 

 among the orthoptera and homoptera. 14 J?, iy.,528. 



THE AFRICAN LOCUST IN GERMANY. 



During the prevalent fear that the Colorado potato-bug 

 will be introduced into Europe, an equally or even more 

 dangerous pest has actually made its appearance in Germany 

 in the shape of the African locust, Acridhim migratorium,^ 

 which has been found in the fields of Kerzendorf, on the Ber- 

 lin and Anhalt Railway, where the insects have laid waste 

 extensive tracts of land covered with good crops of grass 

 and grain. Appreciating the necessity of prompt measures, 

 however, the proprietors of the lands put a large force to 

 work, and succeeded in destroying a great part of the insects 

 before they could escape, digging numerous ditches and 

 canals into which they could be swept and then covered 

 with lime. AVhether these insects laid their eggs before they 

 were killed is of course impossible to know at present. 17 

 ^,^?/^zs^ 1, 1875, 117. 



INEQUALITY OF THE SEXES IN A SAW-FLY. 



Mr. Smith, at a late meeting of the Entomological Society 

 of London, read some notes on JSTematiis gcdlicola, the gall- 



