ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 721 



colours develop in the primary cuticula, which is derived from pro- 

 chitin, an alburnino-gelatinate, through the action of chitases producing 

 chitin and pigments of the azo-, di-azo-, and amido-azo series. 



Colour patterns of various genera have many developmental stages 

 in common, and a fundamental plan of colour development was found 

 in all the genera studied. 



Vasiform Orifice of the Aleurodidae.* — H. W. Peal describes a 

 small ;oval organ always present on the posterior surface of the dorsum 

 of both the larval and adult insects. There is (1) a vasiform orifice, a 

 more or less oval pit or depression ; (2) a flat, shield-like hinged oper- 

 culum, which more or less covers the orifice ; and (3) a usually two- 

 jointed protrusible lingula, shot out some four or five times a second, 

 and continued as a transparent tube into the cavity of the body. There 

 is no doubt that the function of this remarkable organ is the secretion 

 of honey-dew. The operculum may be regarded as a protective cover- 

 ing. The actual emergence of a globule of honey-dew from the lingula 

 was observed. 



Pine-Beetle.f — The Board of Agriculture devotes the 91st of their 

 useful leaflets — which may be obtained free of charge — to the pine- 

 beetle, vHylesimis piniperda L. This destructive forest insect is de- 

 scribed, its life-history is sketched, and the readily available, and usually 

 effective, preventive measures are discussed. 



Economic Entomology.^ — E. P. Stebbing has published a useful 

 paper on the aims and methods of economic entomology — " The study 

 of the life-histories of injurious insects, with a view to instituting 

 remedial measures against them ; this latter question involving an 

 acquaintance with the habits of insects, predaceous and parasitic, upon the 

 noxious pests, and with the capabilities of various insecticides and other 

 remedial measures." " We cannot rely that life-histories and remedies 

 worked out, and applicable in Europe or America, will be of use to us 

 or equally justified in India." " Remedial measures divide themselves 

 into two heads : (1) those applicable through the agency of man ; and 

 (2) natural checks brought into play by Nature herself." " The most 

 satisfactory of all remedial measures would be effected by the study of 

 the varieties of plants which best resisted attacks." 



Copeognathse from Kameroon.§— Giinther Enderlein describes three 

 new Copeognatha? from Kameroon, of considerable zoo-geographical 

 interest, indeed the only forms of Copeognathre as yet known from 

 West Africa. The new genus Axinopsocus is founded, a representative 

 of the little-known family Psoquillidas, with the species A. microps ; the 

 two others are Perimtomum hbsemanni sp. n., named after the collector 

 Dr. Hosemann, and Myopsocus camerunus sp. n. 



Tasmanian Phasmid.||— Arthur M. Lea describes a new walking- 

 stick insect, Acrophylla tasmaniensis sp. n. ; and we refer to his paper 



* Journ. Asiatic Soc. Bengal, lxxii. (1903) pp. G-7. 



t Publications of the Board of Agriculture, leaflet No. 91, p 6. (3 figs.). 



% Proc. Asiatic Soc. Bengal, No. iv. (1903) pp. 76-89. 



§ Zool. Jahrb., xix. Heft i. pp. 1-8 (1 pi.). 



y Papers and Proc. K. Soc. Tasmania, 1902, published 1903, pp. 81-2 (1 pi.). 



