244 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



parts of the insect were decomposed and absorbed by 

 the tissues of the leaf. This I witnessed with my 

 own eyes, and am therefore enabled to bear, I hope, 

 credible testimony to the fact. There could now be 

 no reasonable doubt that the nature of the substance 

 by which the composition of the sticky fluid was 

 changed, was really similar to our own gastric juice. 

 However, as it might perhaps be said, that I saw 

 these things because I expected to see them, I took the 

 precaution of carefully extracting a few of the plants, 

 so that, in case of any one doubting my statement 

 (which, considering my own former incredulity, I 

 could scarcely wonder at), I might have the means of 

 convincing them at hand, by simply exposing the 

 plant, under favourable conditions, to air and sun- 

 light, and thus probably bringing about a repetition 

 of the phenomenon above described. 



C.J. 



THE HORNED APHIS (CERATAPHIS 



LATANIJE, Licht.). 



By Joseph Anderson, jun. 



THE fourth and last volume of Mr. Buckton's 

 magnificent monograph on British Aphides 

 has just been published by the Ray Society. It 

 contains the description with a coloured plate of a 

 species of Aphis, the occurrence of which has 

 hitherto not been noticed in Britain. Considering 

 that it has as yet only been found in hot-houses, and 

 perhaps could not exist without shelter in this 

 country, it must of course be regarded as an intro- 

 duction. Concerning this, however, Mr. Buckton 

 has the following remarks : ' ' Our modern facilities 

 for transport are now so great that it becomes neces- 

 sary to modify our notions as to when an animal is 

 entitled to the term indigenous ; indeed the natural- 

 isation of a species now becomes merely a question 

 of period and degree. Perhaps only two Aphides, 

 out of the series I have described, have been intro- 

 ductions into Britain within historic times. They 

 are the American apple Schizoneura, and the grape 

 Phylloxera. In the March of this present year I 

 received from Mr. J. Anderson, of Chichester, an 

 interesting addition to our list of Aphides. As they 

 infest only the palms, orchids, and a few other 

 stove-plants, they must be looked upon as a species 

 introduced from without." 



As, it may be,'only a certain number of the readers 

 of Science-Gossip have the opportunity of seeing 

 Mr. Buckton's superb work, and the insect being one 

 of exceptional interest, a short account of it may 

 prove acceptable. 



On February 14th last, Mr. Gatehouse, of Chi- 

 chester, who had noticed them for some time past, 

 sent me some very curious insects which he found 

 infesting the orchidaceous and some other plants in 



his hothouses. They so much resemble a coccus 

 that I pronounced them at once to be such. 

 M. Richter, of Montpellier, to whom I forwarded 

 specimens, and to whom I am indebted for much of 

 the valuable information respecting them contained 

 in this paper, informed me that the insects were not 

 Coccides, but Aphides. 



They seem to have given systematists some trouble, 

 being called by Boisduval Coccus lataniic. In 1S67 

 M. Signoret placed the insect with the Aleurodes, 

 naming it Boisditvalia latanice in his monograph on 

 those insects, avowing at the same time that he did 

 not know really where to allocate it. M. Lichtenstein 

 has for years given these Aphides his especial atten 

 tion, and it was the finding of a perfect winged form 

 by him, that enabled him to pronounce definitely 

 upon them and assign them a proper position. " In 

 May, 1881," he says, " I found a winged form ; but 



Fig. 140. — 1, 2. Apterous female and part of another surrounded by- 

 discs of wax; they are fixed to a portion of an Orchis leaf; 3, 

 another individual, placed so as to show the under side and the 

 position of the rostrum. The disc has been removed. 



unfortunately very mutilated. It enabled me, how- 

 ever, to state that I had to do with an Aphis belong- 

 ing to the group of Schizoneura." M. Signoret 

 himself also sent him another example, unfortunately, 

 too in very bad condition. Subsequently he had the 

 good luck to come upon a living winged insect in 

 the hot-houses of the Jardin des Plantes at Mont- 

 pellier, carrying its wings flat, like the Phylloxera, 

 which it much resembles "par sa taille et par sa 

 couleur " when it is young ; but from which it is 

 distinguished at first sight "by the antennae of five 

 articulations, and the forked nervure of the wings ; 

 moreover it is viviparous. In these characters the 

 insect agrees with the genus Vacuna, where it might 

 have been classed, but for a peculiarity distinguish- 

 ing it from all other Aphides, the presence namely in 

 the apterous form of two little pointed horns, spring- 

 ing from between the antenna;." This characteristic 



