ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 579 



of their phylogenetic origin lias not been adequately treated hitherto. 

 He has investigated the scales in 110 different species of the genus 

 Lycsena. His careful comparison of these shows, in the first place, that 

 the scales are progressive and not degenerating structures, a conclusion 

 directly opposite to that put forward by Kennel, who regards them as 

 disappearing organs. Further, the author believes that the evidence 

 shows that in the genus they have been independently acquired by the 

 species in which they occur, and that they are modifications of primitive 

 long hair-like scales. As to function, the author agrees with Fritz 

 Miiller and Weismann in regarding the scales as true " scent-scales," 

 exhaling the characteristic odour which is probably a means of sexual 

 attraction. 



Blepharocera capitata Loew. * — Mr. Vernon L. Kellogg has been 

 able to make some observations on the structure and life-history of 

 this member of the Nematocera. The eggs have not been found, but 

 larvae and pupae occur in swift-running streams near Ithaca, New York. 

 The larvae have ventral suckers, by which they cling to the rock-bottom, 

 and are social, forming patches numbering at times several hundred indi- 

 viduals. The pupae are submerged, and the emergence of the imago 

 takes place under water. In the imago the mouth shows an extremely 

 generalised structure, and the eyes are peculiar in being divided into 

 two parts, one part with large and one with small facets. Too little is 

 known of the habits of the adults to determine the exact function of 

 these divided eyes, but the fact that they are present in both sexes is of 

 interest. 



■ New Maritime Fly.f — Mr. Vernon L. Kellogg obtained in 1898 a 

 large number of small flies from the surface of tidal pools near Mon- 

 terey, California, but has not since been successful in finding the form, 

 either as larvae or imagines, during subsequent visits, so that the life- 

 history remains unknown. The animal is described as Eretmoptera 

 browni g. et sp. n., and is apparently not referable to any existing 

 family, although allied to the simpler families of Nematocera. The 

 special peculiarities are the reduction of the wings in both sexes to 

 narrow somewhat thickened strap-shaped structures, and the condition 

 of the halteres, which are not of the usual shape, but rather present the 

 appearance of simple rudimentary wings. The antennae are six-jointed 

 in the male, four-jointed in the female ; the empodium is " curving, 

 filiform, and pectinate for its whole length." 



Sperm Destruction in Hemiptera.J — Herr A.' Handlirsch discusses 

 the interesting discovery made by Berlese § that in the tree-bug, Grapho- 

 soma lineatum, the spermotheca consists of two parts, one storing the 

 spermatozoa necessary for fertilisation, the other receiving the super- 

 fluous spermatozoa and the secretions of the accessory male glands. By 

 the secretions the superfluous spermatozoa seem to be destroyed, and the 

 products are probably absorbed by the organism. In the bed-bug (Cimex 

 lectularius) the same occurs, but it is interesting to notice that the organ 



* Entomol. News, xi. (1900) pp. 305-1 S (5 figs.). 



t Biolosr. Bull., i. (1900) pp. 81-7 (3 figs.). 



X Verh.~Zool. Bot. Ges. Wien, I. (1900) pp. 105-12 (3 figs.). 



§ liev. Patol. Vegetal., vi. (189S) pp. 353-68(3 pis.) ; vii. (1899) pp. 1-18(3 pis.). 



