316 SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



Histolysis of Wing-muscles in Ants after Nuptial Flight.* — 

 Charles Janet lias previously described the histolysis of the vibratory 

 muscles of the wings of ants after the wings are lost. He now inquires 

 into the fate of the ordinary non-vibratory muscles associated with the 

 wings. Here, too, there is necrobiosis, a sort of premature senescence. 

 Finally the remains of the muscle undergo digestion. There is no 

 phagocytosis. 



Uncommon Dipterous Larva.f — P. Cerfontaine describes a rare 

 dipterous larva of the genus Mkrodon, of which a few specimens were 

 found in the stumps of hornbeam and oak trees near Liege. The general 

 aspect, form and movements of this larva are so peculiar and Gastropod- 

 like, that it is not surprising that it should have been classed as a 

 mollusc before its metamorphosis was observed. The investigator gives 

 an account of the general structure of the larva, and describes and figures 

 in minute detail the various chitinous structures on the surface of the 

 body. The results agree in the main with those of Hecht, but he finds 

 that the buccal armature is much more complex than Hecht described, 

 and that the so-called chitinous stylets are simply the extremities of 

 the antenna?. He also finds on the dorsal surface a series of sensitive 

 organs which have not hitherto been described. These organs are of 

 the same type as those on the ventral surface, but have a much more 

 elongated cone ; they are metamerically arranged. 



Just before metamorphosis not only the larval respiratory mechanism 

 but the respiratory horns of the nymph, and the outline of the stigmata 

 of the perfect insect, can be seen. As metamorphosis was not observed 

 it was impossible to determine to which of the two species, 31. mutabilis 

 or 31. devius, the specimens in question belong. 



Fat-bodies of Muscidae in Metamorphosis.! — Ch. Perez states that 

 for a time during metamorphosis the fat-body functions as a storing 

 kidney (rein d'accumulation). As the imaginal organs develop they 

 digest within their protoplasm some of the inclusions. Whenever the 

 Malpighian tubes are differentiated they commence to function even 

 before the emergence of the imago ; the urates provisionally heaped up 

 in the fat-cells are dissolved and circulated. They reach the cells of the 

 Malpighian tubes, and finally pass from their lumina to the intestine as 

 an abundant meconium. 



Larval Habits of Tiger-beetles.§ — V. E. Shelf ord gives a preliminary 

 account of the habits of the larvae of some American tiger-beetles, which 

 he reared from the egg in a glass-covered vivarium. The species chiefly 

 described is Ckindela purpurea, but other eleven races were studied at 

 the same time. Adults were caught in April and mating took place in 

 a few days, there being no " courting " on the part of the male. Some 

 days later the female bored vertical holes, 7-9 mm. in depth, and 

 deposited a single elongated egg of a clear translucent cream-colour in 

 each hole. About fifty eggs were laid by one female. Small larvae 

 appeared in two weeks. The first larval stage lasts about a month. 



* Comptes Rendus, cxlv. (1907) pp. 1205-8 (1 fig.). 

 t Arch. Biol., xxiii. (1907) pp. 368-410 (2 pis.). 

 % C.R. Soc. Biol. Paris, Ixii. (1907) pp. 909-11. 

 § Jouru. Linn. Soc, xxx. (1908) pp. 157-88 (4 pis.). 



