ENTOMOLOGY 231 



Philadelphia, 6, 687-90) writes on the persistence of traces of 

 wings in worker ants, and in one nest of the red Cahfornian 

 Harvester ant over 1,700 workers were taken over a period 

 of two years, nearly half of which exhibited vestigeal wings in 

 various stages of development. In fifty other colonies within 

 a radius of two miles only one of these pterergates was found. 

 The author suggests that mendelian factors may be involved 

 in the appearance of wings. R. Vogel {Zool. Anz., 53, 20-28) 

 describes the olfactory organs of bees and wasps. In the 

 queen bee he finds about 2,000 olfactory plates on each 

 antenna, about 6,000 in the worker, and about 30,000 in the 

 drone. The latter he maintains is thus well equipped for 

 finding a queen for mating purposes. Each plate consists of 

 about sixteen sensory cells innervated by very delicate nerve 

 fibres. 



Diptera. — Two detailed studies of the structure and biology 

 of individual species have lately been published ; one by 



A. E. Cameron on the Canadian Cattle-infesting Black Fly, 

 Siniuliitm simile {Dep. Agric. Canada Bull., 5 n.s.), and the 

 other by Chih Ping on Ephydra subopaca {Cornell Univ. Agric. 

 Exp. Sta. Mem., 49). In the latter publication. Memoir 44, 



B. P. Young has a technical paper on the attachment of the 

 thorax to the abdomen in various Diptera. W. S. Patton 

 {Bull. Ent. Res., 12, 411-26) has a first contribution to a 

 revision of the species of Musca, dealing in the present instance 

 with the Oriental and Australasian forms. In view of the role 

 which members of this genus play in the dissemination of 

 disease the exact determination of very closely allied species 

 has assumed a practical importance. R. E. Snodgrass {Proc. 

 Ent. Soc. Washington, 24, 148-52) describes remarkable 

 jaw-like lobes developed in relation with the labella of a 

 Dolichopodid fly, Melanderia mandibulata. These organs are 

 evidently used for seizing the prey, and bear an extremely 

 close resemblance to true mandibles which they functionally 

 replace. The genus and species bearing these organs are 

 described as new by J. M. Aldrich in the same issue. M. Bezzi 

 {Parasitology, 14, 29-46) contributes a useful article summaris- 

 ing our present knowledge of Diptera whose larvae are ecto- 

 parasites of birds, with particular reference to the genera 

 Passeromyia and Ornithoniusca. In the same journal H. M. 

 Morris (pp. 70-74) describes the metamorphosis of a Phorid 

 fly, Hypocera incrassata, parasitic upon the larva of Bibio 

 marci. This appears to be the first definite record of an insect 

 parasitic upon Bibionic larvae. C. F. Ferris and F. R. Cole 

 {ibid., 178-208) write on various species of Hippoboscidae 

 which are well figured, and several forms are described as 

 new. F. W. Edwards {Ent. Month. Mag,, May) describes a 



