202 ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. 



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pafns, which are all characterized by a reduction of the tritocerebron cor- 

 related with the absence of a second pair of antennae. The following 

 table will show this new grouping, which, it seems to me, better expresses 

 the affinities of the groups of Arthropods than any other.* 



( Myriapoda 



f Biantennata -| Peripatus 



i Antennata ] ( Insecta 



Arthropoda -I L Quadriantennata Crustacea 



I rhf>1i> f Limulus 



\ Arachnida 



A WEEVIL LIVING UNDER WATER is represented by the very rare Eit- 

 bric/rins aqnaticiis Thorns, lately observed at the Biological Station at 

 Ploen, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, by Dr. Otto Zacharias, and is apt to 

 create great interest in entomological circles. 



The little beetle in question is only a few millimeters long, but it mani- 

 fests such an eminent adaptation to live under water that it deserves our full 

 attention by all means. Without any organs particularly developed for 

 paddling, as the water beetles proper are furnished with, this weevil moves 

 about in the liquid element with the alertness of a Hydrachiride, to let 

 itself down occasionally on a spawning-plant, or on a leaf of the Elodea, 

 to rest. It swims chiefly by the two fore-legs, while the hind pair of legs 

 are hardly used at all. From a communication of Prof. E. Taschenbrg 

 it is known of several weevils, that they occur only on water plants, and, 

 of Hydronoinas alismatis it is known, that it can remain under water for 

 a long time; all these novices at aquatic existence, however, are put into 

 the shade by the Enbric/iiiis, who behaves itself amidst the water mites 

 and Daphnides, etc., like one of themselves according to Dr. Kraatz at 

 Berlin, who determined this beetle, discovered by Dr. Zacharias in the 

 Ploen Sea; it is very rare in Germany. AUG. MERKEL, New York. 



THE PRESERVATION OF THE LARVAL FOOD BY DIGGER WASPS. Arti- 

 cles relating to the habits of the digger wasps commonly mention a state 

 of "paralysis" or "suspended animation" (Prof. C. V. Kiley's account 

 of the habits of Sphecius speciosus, " Ins. Life," iv, 249; April, 1892, is the 

 latest), produced by the sting of the wasp. I have, however, observed 

 that death is produced directly by the sting of the wasp, notably in Nemo- 

 bins by Lyroda subita, and it appears that an antiseptic influence is exer- 

 cised by the acid from the sting, and the sealed condition of the wasp 

 cells helps in preserving the larval food in a fresh state. For a number 

 of years past this view of the effect of the sang has appeared to be the 

 correct one, but Fr. Dienelt, of Loda, 111., was the first to make it known 

 (see The Observer, Portland, Conn., April, 1892). In the case of large 

 insects stung by the smaller wasps the poison from a single stinging has 

 probably not caused death so speedily, lu-nce the apparent "paralysis" 



* The division of the Arthropods into Tracheata and Brauchiata cannot be preserved, 



as it separates the Arachnids from l.inr.ilus, which is their nearest ally, in order to brinjj 

 them close to the Insects and Mvriapods from which they differ in so many respects. . . . 



