1898] NOTES AND COMMENTS 15 



formation of ' giant cells.' Later the Triclmcis larva becomes 

 maggot-like. The grubs of another proctrotrupid Polygnotus minutus 

 live, in their early stage, grouped in the food-canal of the midge- 

 larva. They ultimately devour the whole body of their host except 

 the outer skin. 



Economic ENTOMOLOGY 



We have received several recent Bulletins of the Entomological 

 Division of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. No. 10 contains 

 a series of short miscellaneous papers. Of special interest are Dr 

 Zehnter's on caterpillars which bore sugar-canes in Java, and Mr 

 Matsumura's on two fruit-boring caterpillars of Japan, one of 

 which injures apples and the other pears, after the fashion of the 

 caterpillar of our own codlin moth. No. 12 contains the story by 

 Mr L. 0. Howard, of the never-failing San Jose scale (Aspidiotux 

 perniciosus) during 1896 and 1897, from which it appears that a 

 united effort on the part of fruit-growers to cope with this pest is 

 being made. In February of the present year, the German Govern- 

 ment issued an order to stop the importation of American produce 

 infected with the insect. No. 13 is a compilation of the recent laws, 

 both state and federal, against Injurious Insects in North America. 



The San Jose scale also occupies much space in the Twentieth 

 Report of the State Entomologist of Illinois (Mr S. A. Forbes). 

 A curious observation is given in this Report on the habits of a 

 species of solitary wasp {Odynerus fora/rninatus) which by making- 

 its mud-nest in the air-opening of a railway automatic brake, has, 

 on several occasions, rendered the release of the brakes impossible 

 and caused delay and danger to the trains. 



British farmers and tree-growers will welcome as usual Miss 

 Ormerod's Twenty-first Report on Injurious Insects, recently issued. 

 Together with notes of value on more familiar insects, we notice (pp. 

 3 1-40) some specially interesting observations on the development 

 of vestigial wings in the female of the Deer Forest Fly — Lvpoptena 

 <■< rvi — one of the pupiparous Diptera, and the latest experiments 

 in lessening the damage done to fruit-bushes by the Currant Gall 

 Mite {Phytoptus ribis). 



North American Leaf-Hoppers 



Mb ( '. P. Gillette's revision of the American Typhlocybinae (Proc. 

 U.S. Nat. Mux., vol. xx., pp. 700-773) contains — as might be 

 expected in so neglected a group — a large proportion of new species, 



most of which are illustrated by clear structural figures. As several 

 form- are common to both sides of the Atlantic, Mr Gillette's paper 

 will be useful to European workers. He unites several genera 

 which have hitherto been held distinct, not finding the differentiating 

 characters constant. 



