EDITORIAL i 7l 



averages, and not upon individuals, and it will require 

 the most careful procedure." 



Miss Laura Florence has published 1 the second of her 

 valuable Reports on the Food of Birds. In this report, 

 which is for the years 1911-1912, the results of the examina- 

 tion of no fewer than 1 390 birds are given. The majority 

 of these birds, which belonged to eighty-one species, were 

 shot on agricultural land. At the end of each species a 

 short summary is given, enabling us to realise with little 

 trouble the nature of the food and the position the bird 

 should occupy in its relation to agriculture. Thus the 

 Starling is shown to feed mainly upon insects, but also 

 largely upon grain, especially in the autumn and winter. 

 In the case of the Rook, grain and injurious insects were 

 found in about an equal proportion of crops. It thus 

 becomes a difficult question to decide whether these birds 

 should be encouraged or destroyed. It is pointed out 

 that the Rook does much harm to turnips, potatoes, and 

 the nests of birds, with no resulting evidence in the crops. 

 We may therefore, from these data, regard the species rather 

 as an enemy than a friend. Several other interesting 

 questions are discussed in this important paper, which we 

 hope will be followed by others of a similar nature. 



The entomological papers published during the last few 

 weeks are, as usual, numerous. One of the most interesting 

 is an article on " Scent Organs in Trichoptera," by Bruce 

 F. Cummings. 2 The species upon which his researches 

 were conducted is Sericostoma personatum, Spence, a Caddis- 

 fly tolerably common in Britain. The scent organs in this 

 insect are situated upon the palpus of the first maxilla, 

 which in the male consists of but a single segment, of a 

 shape described as that of a half-moon. This organ secretes 

 an odour which is supposed to charm or stimulate the 

 female during the time of pairing. Such organs are well 

 known in Butterflies, Moths, Beetles, and Cockroaches, 

 but their occurrence on the maxillary palpi appears to be 



1 Trans. Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland, vol. xxvi. 

 (1914), pp. 1-74. 



2 Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1914, part ii., pp. 459-474 (June 1914). 



