o 



20 SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



nuclei. In eggs laid by " fertile workers " no trace of a spermatozoon 

 was to be seen. Thus the author confirms Dzierzon's theory. 



New Psychid.* — A. Vayssiere and L. Bordas obtained from Tim- 

 buctoo a branch of Mimosa, bearing some thirty conical cases which 

 proved to be the chrysalides of a hitherto undescribed Psychid. The 

 Psychids are remarkable in that the caterpillar weaves together foreign 

 particles to form a case resembling that of a caddis-worm. In this 

 instance the cases were formed of fine grains of saud, spun together with 

 silk, and, as the insects had reached the chrysalis stage, were hermetically 

 closed, and suspended from the twigs. Within, instead of the developing 

 imago, there occurred in many cases a large number of eggs. These 

 were at first supposed to be the eggs of a parasite ; but it was found later 

 that they were the eggs of the Psychid itself. The female never leaves 

 its envelope, but is fertilised within it by the male, and speedily dies, 

 leaving the eggs to develope within the original case. The eggs, chry- 

 salis, and caterpillar are described ; but in the absence of the imago the 

 species is not defined. In one of the cases a larva of a species of 

 Braconidae was found, and is described. 



Ocelli in Tipulidse.f — Dr. 0. E. Imhof briefly notes the discovery in 

 the streets of Baden of a new species of Trichocera Meigen., which 

 possesses three ocelli. These have not been previously described in the 

 family, which at present contains 365 species. The new species has also 

 five-jointed palps, but the basal joint is very short, and has possibly been 

 merely overlooked hitherto. 



Genital Organs of Zaitha.j — Mr. T. H. Montgomery, junr., points 

 out that, while the female genital organs of Zaitha and Belostoma are 

 quite similar, the male organs are very different. In Belostoma each 

 testis consists of a single convoluted follicle, in Zaitha of five distinct 

 and well-separated nearly straight follicles. As the value of the geni- 

 talia in taxonomy has been well vindicated, the fact pointed out indicates 

 that the two genera are by no means so closely related as they have been 

 assumed to be. In fact it might be proper to separate them into different 

 families, and Zaitha is perhaps nearer to Nepa than to Belostoma, with 

 which it has been usually associated. 



American " Kissing-Bug." § — P. Serre, in the course of some general 

 observations on the zoology of California, gives an account of this insect, 

 whose attacks created a panic in parts of America during last year. The 

 true " kissing-bug " is Melanolestes picipes, but another less venomous 

 species, M. abdominalis, is also abundant in California. During the day 

 the insect is to be found under stones, fallen trees, &c, but it is active 

 at night, and attacks the lips of sleepers, probably because the epidermis 

 there is thin enough to be readily pierced. The bite produces serious 

 effects, and may result in death in the case of children or persons of 

 impoverished blood. The effects are probably due to the poison injected 

 from poison-glands, but it has also been suggested that they are due to 

 bacteria introduced into the blood-system by the insect. 



* Ann. Fac. Sci. Marseille, x. (no date) pp. 7-22 (1 pi.). 



t Zool. Anzeig., xxiii. (19(30) p. 116. 



t Amer. Nat., xxxiv. (1900) pp. 119-21 (2 fi?s.). 



§ Bull. Soc. Zool. France, xxiv. (1899) pp. 197-203. 



