ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY. ETC. 457 



Nucleoli in Spermatocytes and Ova.* — Katharine Foot and E. C. 

 Strobell have studied Euschistus variolarius, where there is a chromatin 

 nucleolus (or more than one) in the entire growth-period of the 

 spermatocytes. There is no corresponding body in the germinal vesicle. 

 The authors discuss the significance of the chromatin nucleolus and the 

 general question of the individuality and continuity of the chromosomes. 



Injurious Insects and Acarines in Ireland.! — C H. Carpenter 

 discusses the common rustic moth, " turnip flies," various species of 

 Mamestra, a new Irish springtail (Isotoma tenella Eeuter), a new Irish 

 larch sawfly {Nematus macidiger Cameron), the spruce aphid (Chermes 

 abietis), and various other injurious insects. He has also notes on the 

 common tick {Ixodes rkinus) of cattle, sheep and dogs, and three scab 

 and itch mites, Psoroptes communis Furst, Ghorioptes bovis GerL, and 

 Sar 'copies scabiei. 



Do Drones Arise from Parthenogenetic Ova ?f — L. Cuenot recalls 

 I )zierzon's experiment of crossing the common black bee with the 

 Italian bee which has its abdomen marked with yellow bands. If the 

 drones are the results of parthenogenetic ova, then they should be all of 

 the maternal type. But the results were contradictory. Possibly the 

 queens that were used in the discrepant cases were themselves unsus- 

 pected hybrids. 



Cuenot has crossed the common black bee (female), with the " golden 

 bee " (male), both of pure races. The resulting workers had all yellow 

 bands. Of about 300 drones, almost all were black, two had one large 

 yellow abdominal band, a dozen had some yellow marks on the abdomen. 

 Are these yellow marks hints of hybridisation, or simply of variation ? 

 A search in hives has yielded no similar variants, which is against the 

 second view. The experiment must be tried again. 



Links between Solitary and Social Wasps. § — E. Roubaud reports 

 on the habits of three species of Synagris (Eumenidse), which nest on 

 walls and under the roofs of houses in the Congo. In S. calida there is 

 a large nest of a dozen chambers, which contains a store of caterpillars. 

 In S. sicheliana there is a nest of eight chambers ; four or five paralysed 

 caterpillars are put into the first cell beside the egg just before hatching, 

 and the store is replaced as it is eaten. When the larva has reached 

 about three-fourths of its size, the wasp shuts the entrance after putting 

 in an appropriate number of caterpillars. Another cell is then made. 

 In S. cornuta the nest has four or five chambers closely bound together, 

 and the wasp feeds its young directly from chewed caterpillar's, and 

 there is no store. Thus there is a gradation between solitary and 

 social wasps. 



Mouth-parts of Wasps. |j---R. Kirmayer gives a detailed account of 

 the structure and development of the mouth-parts in Vespa vulgaris, 

 and compares them with the parts in Apis, Bombus, and other 

 Hymenoptera. 



* Biol. Bulletin, xvi. (1909) pp. 215-38 (3 pis.). 



t Econ. Proc. R. Dublin Soc, i. (1908) pp. 559-88 (6 pis. and 10 figs.). 



X C.R. Soc. Biol. Paris, lxvi. (1909) pp. 7G5-7. 



§ Comptes Rendus, cxlvii. (1908) pp. 695-7. 



|| Morphol. Jahrb., xxxix. (1908) pp. 1-30 (3 pis. and 6 figs.). 



