ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 719 



Position of Repose in Lepidoptera.* — J. Th. Oudemans has made 

 an elaborate study of the resting pose in Lepidoptera, and has illustrated 

 his memoir with numerous beautiful plates. He discusses the folding 

 of the wings so that only the under surfaces are seen, and the spreading of 

 the wings so that the upper surface is alone prominent. Many detailed 

 peculiarities are described and figured, and the adaptiveness of the 

 results is expounded. He believes strongly in the direct influence of 

 light on the exposed parts, without denying that internal influences are 

 also at work. 



Protective Resemblance in Butterflies.! — W. S. Rogers calls 

 attention to an un-named butterfly which he found in the granite 

 quarries in the district of Santos, Brazil. The general colouring of the 

 butterfly is a cool-blue grey, exactly the shade of the freshly quarried 

 stone, on which it invariably settled. The weathered surfaces of the 

 granite were greenish-grey. The markings of the butterfly also cor- 

 responded to the texture of the rock. 



" The facts seem to point to a very rapid evolution of the butterfly's 

 present colouring, since the quarries in question have probably only 

 existed for some 200 years, and before that time the butterflies could 

 not have found access to a freshly cleft granite-surface." In an ap- 

 pended note Mr. G. H. Carpenter says that the observation is of much 

 interest, and that there can be little doubt that the colour of the species 

 has changed during the period mentioned under the influence of natural 

 selection. 



Spermatogenesis in Drones.:}: — F. Meves makes a brief note on the 

 remarkable spermatocyte-divisions in the testes of the drone-bee. The 

 division results in a large and a very minute cell, like a polar body ; 

 both begin to be transformed into sperms, but the small cells probably 

 degenerate. 



Wax-making Organ of Bee.§ — L. Hreyling has made a careful study 

 of this structure, showing inter alia that the " wax-membrane " is a 

 modified glandular area of the hypodermis, and that the secretion 

 comes out by extremely fine canaliculi traversing the chitin. Of much 

 interest is the author's description of the state of the glandular area at 

 different ages ; it functions at the acme of the short life, and thereafter 

 degenerates. 



Hibernation of Ants.|| — Ruggero Cobelli has shown that the dura- 

 tion of the hibernating period of ants is a specific character. This is 

 clearly indicated by a contrast between Lasius fulif/inosus and Gampo- 

 notus ptibescens. Of course the position of the nest and other factors 

 influence the duration of the winter-resting period ; but, other things 

 being equal, the duration is a function of the constitution of the species. 

 As regards sensitiveness to cold, and length of hibernating period, 

 similar series may be demonstrated : thus, Gamponotus pubescens, Grema- 



* Verh. k. Akad. Wetenshappen Amsterdam, x. (190:)) pp. 1-90 (11 pis.). 

 t Knowledge, xxvi. (1903) p. 206. 



t MT. Ver. Schleswig-Holstein, xi. (1903) 2 pp. See Zool. Centralbl., x. (1903) 

 p. 577. § Zool. Anzeig., xxvi. (1903) pp. 710-5 (2 figs.). 



|| Verh. Zool. Bot. Ges. Wien, liii. (1903) pp. 309-80. 



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