570 SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



Study of Genus Disonycha.* — L. L. Scott has studied the Ohio 

 species of this genus of Chrysoinelid beetles. The species are notable 

 for their power of adapting themselves to very varied environmental 

 conditions. One of the species, D. quinquevittata, has been observed 

 swarming in Arizona : an immense swarm, probably 20 or 25 ft. thick, 

 was observed passing up the Colorado river. There was no lack of 

 food to prompt migration, but the weather was very sultry. The 

 author gives an account of the life-history of this species and a key to 

 the Ohio species. 



Bed Bugs.f — W. S. Patton points out that Gimex Uctularius is 

 the only well-known species ; G. ciliatus Eversmann, G. rotundatus 

 Signoret, and G. macrocephalus Fieber are very imperfectly known. He 

 finds that G. Uctularius is distributed chiefly throughout the temperate 

 zones, while G. rotwidatus is tropical or sub-tropical. It is pointed out 

 that G. rotundatus is of a dark mahogany colour ; its head is not as 

 long or as broad as that of G. Uctularius ; its prothorax, which is also 

 narrower and shorter, is rounded to the margin, and quite unlike that 

 of G. Uctularius, whose prothorax is raised in the centre but flattened 

 abruptly at a line a little beyond the level of the eyes. The abdomen 

 of G. rotundatus is less orbicular, and broadest at the second segment, 

 whereas that of C. Uctularius is broadest at the third segment. Patton 

 finds that G. rotundatus may occur on the yellow bat {Scotophilus kuhli), 

 which also harbours G. pipistrelli Jenyns. 



Ovary of Rhynchota.J — H. Wielowieyski has continued his study 

 of the insect ovary. The primitive germ-cells of Hemiptera are con- 

 tained in the so-called terminal chamber of the ovariole, where they 

 divide in the larvas into glandular yolk-making cells and oocytes. 



Study of Leaf-insect.§ — H. S. Leigh has studied the life-history of 

 Phyllium crurifolium. These insects are dependent upon a very warm 

 and moist atmosphere, and are therefore more or less confined to the 

 islands in the tropical zone. In all stages they are very similar, both in 

 colour and habits, to various plant-structures. Post-embryonic develop- 

 ment is slow, and takes place by a gradual increase in size of the 

 individual, adults only differing externally from the young in the pos- 

 session of fully-developed tegmina and wings. The sexual dimorphism 

 is pronounced, the females being large and foliaceous, whilst the males 

 are much smaller, and although flat are not characterised by such a leaf- 

 like appearance as the females. 



y8- Prototracheata,. 



New Species of Peripatoides.|J — Baldwin Spencer describes P. 

 f/ilesii sp. n., from West Australia. The claw-bearing legs are 16 in 

 number ; the first and last are somewhat smaller than the others. The 



* Ohio Naturalist, ix. (1909) pp. 423-30 (4 figs.). 



t Records Indian Museum, ii. (1908) pp. 153-5 (1 pi.). 



I Bull. Internat. Acad. Sci. Cracovie, 1908, pp. 353-9 (3 pis.). 



§ Proc. Zool. Soc, 1909, pp. 103-13 (1 pi.). 



|| Proc. R. Soc. Victoria, xxi. (1909) pp. 420-2. 



