ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 547 



is the San Jose scale, Aspidiotiis jJerniciosus Comstock. After an insect 

 is introduced to a new country, rapid local distribution may follow by 

 natural means. Legislation is the only effective means of stopping the 

 introduction of injurious insects into a new country. One can never 

 prophesy how an introduced insect may act in its new home. It is, 

 therefore, essential to the well-being of mankind that this insect 

 dispersal by artificial means should be dealt with universally in regard to 

 those pests which attack farm and garden produce, stores, stock, and 

 man, to save further loss and danger. 



Studies on Blattidse.* — R. Shelford adds to the number of known 

 viviparous Blattidaj, describing forms (a) with eggs inclosed in a chiti- 

 nous ootheca, which is retained in the brood-sac of the mother, e. g. 

 OxyhaJoa saussurei, Eustegasta micans, etc. ; and (h) with eggs inclosed 

 in a transparent membrane also retained in the maternal brood-sac. In 

 some, e. g. Panchlora virescens, the membrane is complete, in others, 

 e.g. P. viridis and P. nivea, it is incomplete. A new genus, SphecopJiila, 

 symbiotic in the nest of the wasp Polybia pygmmi Fab. in French 

 Guiana, is described, and a revised list of the Blattidse in the Hope 

 Museum, Oxford, previously described by "Walker, is also provided. 



American Species of Papirius.f — A. D. Jackson gives an account 

 of the 13 American species of this genus of Thysanura. A characteristic 

 which distinguishes Pajjirius from Smynthurus and Dkyrtoma (the 

 other genera in the family Smynthurid^e) is the possession of four- 

 jointed antenute, with a short terminal segment. The insects are 

 gregarious, living in dark shady nooks among decayed wood and leaves 

 where there is some moisture. They are well protected by their colour, 

 which is usually of a reddish tinge like the brown of decaying wood. 



Museum Beetle. | — A. J. Ewart makes a contribution to the phy- 

 siology of the museum beetle, Antliremis museorum, whose larv^ have 

 been working terrible havoc in the National Herbarium at Melbourne. 

 Its ravages are only kept in check by placing the portfolios of plants in 

 a chamber impregnated with the vapour of carbon bisulphide for two or 

 three days at regular intervals. Napthalin has no effect upon the 

 larvae. The most remarkable feature about the larvae is their power of 

 feeding on dry materials without any apparent supplies of water, though 

 they contain about the same percentage of water (68 "5-71 "8 p.c.) as 

 do the larvffi of allied insects. The water may possibly be chemical in 

 origin, being derived from the carbohydrate food, and set free in the 

 animal's body by the oxidation of the carbon in respiration. Experi- 

 ments go to show that when the grubs are actively feeding and respiring, 

 the oxidation of the carbon in their carbohydrate food sets free a certain 

 amount of water, which, aided by the imbibed water from the plant 

 tissues, suffices, if the latter is over 10 p.c. in amount, for the aqueous 

 requirements of the grubs. Bacteria are abundant in the alimentary 

 canal, and since these bacteria feed on the carbohydrate food, and oxidise 



* Traus. Entom. Soc. London, 1906, pp. 487-519 (1 pi.), 

 t Ohio Naturalist, vii. (1907) pp. 159-77 (2 pis.). 

 X Journ. Linn. Soc. (Zool.) xxx. (1907) pp. 1-5. 



Od. 16th, 1907 i 



