182 SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



Development of Parasitic Hymenoptera.* — P. Silvestri gives an 

 account of the development of Age/iiaspis fuscicollis Dalm., Encyrtus 

 aphidivorus Mayr, and Oophthora semblidis. We cannot do more than 

 refer to a few points. In the first the ovum gives origin to ten to 

 fifteen embryos, and part of the ovum form a trophamnion ; there are 

 two polar bodies in the parthenogenetic as well as in the fertilised ova. 

 In the second, as in the first, unfertilised ova develop into males ; the 

 parthenogenetic as well as the fertilised ova form two polar bodies ; 

 the egg develops into a single embryo. 



Myrmecophilus Wingless Fly.f — Giinther Enderlein describes 

 Oniscomyia dorni g. et sp. n., a new Phorid found by Karl Dorn, in 

 Bavaria, in a colony of Polyergus rufescens. Among its distinctive 

 features the following may be noted : the maxillary palp is reduced to 

 a knob, and has only a few minute sets ; there is no proboscis ; the 

 limbs are relatively short, with very minute claws ; there are no wings 

 or ocelli. The author distinguishes this new type from Platyphora 

 Verr., JEuiqmatistes Shelf., jEnigmatias Mein., and Thaumatoxena 

 Bredd. and Born, and he also distinguishes a new genus Termitodeipnus, 

 with an unsegmented abdomen, from Thaumatoxena, which has two 

 segments. The other four genera have six abdominal segments. All 

 the six genera are nearly related, and should be ranked in a sub-family 

 Platyphorina? which the author defines. 



Mites on Mosquitoes.:}: — L. Bruyant finds that many mosquitoes 

 carry about larval mites belonging to the genera Midea (or Mideopsis), 

 Hydrochoreutes (or Lebertia), Gurvipes, and Diplodontus. 



Economic Entomology. § — Robert Newstead gives an account of the 

 gum-lac insect of Madagascar (Gascardia Madagascar iensis), which is 

 closely related to GeropJastes, but possesses no characters in common 

 with the lac-producing members of the Tachardiinre. He also deals 

 with Lecanium nicotianse sp. n. and other tobacco-infesting insects, and 

 various other forms. 



Primitive Insects. || — F. Silvestri continues his studies of Thysanura, 

 and deals with some new Projapygidre including a new genus Symphy- 

 lurinus. To the Acerentomidaj (Protura) he adds Eosentomon ivlieeleri 

 sp. n., and makes a new genus Proturentomon for Acerentomon minimum 

 Berlese. 



Proboscis of Blow-Fly.f — W. Wesche discusses this familiar object 

 from an evolutionary standpoint. He concludes that Galliphora is one 

 of the later, though not specialised genera of Muscidse. Genera with 

 specialised proboscis have diverged at different times from the more 

 generalised Muscid stock, and this chronological order is suggested — 

 Drymia, Stomoxys, Hsemotobia, Siphona, Prosena, Glossina. 



* Boll. Lab. Zool. Scuola Sup. Agrie. Portici, iii. (1908) pp. 29-83, (2 pis. 

 62 figs.). t Zool. Jahrb., xxvii. (1908) pp. 145-56 (1 pi. and 1 fig.). 



J C.R. Soc. Biol. Paris, lxv. (1908) pp. 706-7. 



§ Quart. Journ. Liverpool Inst. Commercial Research," iii. (1908) pp. 3-13 

 (19 figs.). || Rend. R. Acad. Lmcei Roma, xviii. (1909) pp. 7-10. 



U Journ. Quekett Micr. Club, (Nov. 1908) pp. 283-94 (2 pis.). 



