114 ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. [April, '06 



the acid and alkali-eliminating organs (distinguished re- 

 spectively by their ability to take up carmine, or indigo-car- 

 mine) are united into one. Thus we have the urinary tubules 

 and the Malpighian corpuscles in the kidney of the Verte- 

 brates ; the urinary canals and the peripheral saccules in the 

 decapod Crustaceans ; the pericardial glands and the organs 

 of Bojanus in the L,amellibranchs. In the insects, however, 

 we have these organs, represented respectively by the pericar- 

 dial cells and the Malpighian tubes, entirety separate. Kowa- 

 levsky concludes that "there thus results a certain physio- 

 logical attraction between the organs, which leads to the pene- 

 tration of the Malpighian tubes into the region occupied by 

 the acid-eliminating part of the kidney, that is to say, into 

 the region of the pericardial cells." 



I have studied a number of series of adults of MelcDioplus 

 femoratus and of both adults and nymphs of Melanoplus femnr- 

 rubrum but have observed the phenomenon in only the one 

 individual. In addition, I have examined series of Chorto- 

 phaga (nymph and adult), CEcanthus, Gryllus, and Blatta, but 

 have met with no further instance. The Orthoptera possess 

 from thirty to a hundred and fifty Malpighian tubes and yet 

 of all these Kowalevsky found but a single one within the 

 heart of any individual. If we have in the phenomenon a 

 perfectly normal case of physiological attraction, why does it 

 affect but a single tube, or how account for the fact that it has 

 never been observed in any other order of insects? The con- 

 dition is an interesting one, but the evidence certainly goes to 

 show that it is a purely accidental one. Whether it is merely 

 mechanical, brought about by the movements of the insect, or 

 whether it is an abnormal method of growth, is a question. 



Notes on Caenocara Oculata Say. 



BY C. O. HOUGHTON, Newark, Del. 



In his "Revision of the Ptinidae of Boreal America, ' ' recently 

 published, Mr. H. C. Fall writes, in part, of the genus Ccoio- 

 cara as follows : "The species of this genus, or at least some of 

 them, are known to pass the larval state in puff balls (Lyco- 



