260 SELECTED NOTES FKOM 



strongly suggestive of Entomostraca. The mouth, too, is not 

 mite-Hke. 



H. M. J. Underhill. 



Trophi of Bee (Melecta). — There is a good article on the 

 mouths of insects, by Dr. Lowne, in "Science Gossip" for 1873, 

 p. 229, etc. He gives figure of trophi of carpenter-bee, and 

 makes some interesting remarks on the subject. He remarks that 

 the hairs on the labium (or ligula) can be erected or pressed flat 

 on the organ by special muscles. If, as is stated, the tongue has 

 300 joints, each with separate muscles, and each hair on the 

 surface has its own pair of muscles to elevate and depress it, what 

 a vast number of muscles must be situated in this minute organ ! 



H. E. Freeman. 



Foraminifera, to fix to the slide.— Use gum Tragacanth in 

 acetic acid, diluted with a little water. A very little gum is suffi- 

 cient, as it swells enormously when wetted ; some add a little gum 

 Arabic, but it is not necessary. The gum Tragacanth dries a 

 dead surface, and does not show if a little by accident gets on the 

 object. This has been used by a great mounter of Foraminifera 

 for years. 



H. E. Freeman. 



Scale Insect from Rind of Orange.— It is said that this insect 

 may be found in all its stages on the rind of one orange ; but I 

 have not been so fortunate, but have generally found the scale 

 and mature female and scale filled with eggs. These form good 

 slides when mounted dry. The specimen I have mounted is a 

 female previous to the production of eggs. The long, curling 

 proboscis, by means of which it perforates the thick rind of the 

 orange, is well worthy of notice. I have never been fortunate 

 enough to meet with the mature male insect on the orange, 

 although I have seen it, or a very similar insect, on the pear- 

 tree, and this year several have been found on apples, but I have 

 not watched their development. This creature is an example of 

 the female being apterous, whilst the male is well furnished 

 with wings. 



[For drawing, see " Trans. Micro. Soc." Vol. IX., N.S., PI. V., 

 illustrating Mr. R. Beck's paper on the " Metamorphoses of a 

 Coccus found on Orange."] 



C. F. George. 



