ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 181 



Coffee Beetle.* — L. Boutan discusses the formidable " Indian 

 Borer " Xylotrechus quadrupes C, which threatens to ruin the coffee- 

 plantations at Tonkin. It is a longicorn beetle, which lays eggs in the 

 cortex of the coffee-plant. Remedial measures are discussed, and the 

 surrounding of the stems with thick bandages to prevent emergence is 

 especially recommended. Anything that keeps the stem persistently 

 moist seeems to be efficacious in hindering the development of the eggs. 



Maternal Instinct in Rhynchota.t — F. P. Dodd gives an interest- 

 ing account of the brooding habits of the female Tectocoris Uneola, var. 

 bnnksi Don. This bug sits in a brooding attitude over her eggs for 

 three weeks, and that without feeding, until the young are hatched. 

 When the young begin to break through, the mother backs an inch or 

 so away from the egg mass, and stays there for some hours (long after 

 the last egg has hatched) ; she then departs, leaving the small bugs to 

 take care of themselves. The author thinks that this protection has in 

 some measure for its object the keeping off of ichneumon flies. 



Development of Head Skeleton in Cockroach.!: — W. A. Riley has 

 studied the development of the head of Blatta germanka with especial 

 reference to the skeleton. His views in regard to the relations of the 

 sclerites of the adult Blatta to the primitive segments are summed up in 

 the following table : — 



Segment. Sclerites. 



Protocerebral . . Vertex, gense. 



Front, clypeus and labrum. 



Deutocerebral . . Antennal sclerites. 



Tritocerebral . . . — 



Mandibular . . . Part of post-gense, trocbantins. 



Part of hypopharynx. 

 Maxillary . . . Remainder of post-gense, maxillary pleurites. 



Remainder of hypopharynx. 

 Labial .... Labial pleurites ; lateral cervical sclerites. 



Ventral cervical sclerites. 



It would seem that the definitive sclerites afford little or no evidence 

 as to the primary segmentation of insects. This is certainly true of the 

 head sclerites, and probably applies to other regions of the body. 

 Sclerites originate from mechanical causes, and do not necessarily have 

 any relation to the primary segmentation. 



Thorax of G-ryllus Domesticus.§— F. Voss, as a preliminary to the 

 elucidation of the question of the morphological significance of the insect's 

 winir, <nves a detailed account of the skeleton of the thorax, and of the 

 wing joint and its movement. 



In a subsequent paper |] he gives a most painstaking and exact study of 

 the skeletal parts and musculature of the thorax of the cricket, with 

 special reference to the wing-articulation and wing-movement. 



* Comptes Rendus, exxxix. (1904) pp. 932-4. 



+ Trans. Entomol. Soc. London, 11)04, pp. 483-6 (1 pi.). 



t Amer. Nat., xxxviii. (1904) pp. 777-810 (12 rigs.). 



§ Zeitschr. wiss. Zool., lsxviii. (1904) pp. 26S-354 (2 pis). 



H Op. cit. (1905) pp. 355-521 (2 diagrams and 15 figs.). 



