564 SCIENCE PROGRESS 



The recent text-book of G. H. Carpenter, Insect Trans- 

 formation (London, 192 1, pp. xi + 282, 4 pis.), is a useful and 

 clearly written discussion of metamorphosis in insects. 



Hymenoptera. — M. Haviland {Q.J. M.S., 65, 451-78) contri- 

 butes a careful piece of research work on the biology of 

 certain Cynipidse, those of the genus Charips {Allotria) in 

 particular. They are parasites of Aphidius, and, through the 

 latter insects, hyperparasites of aphides. The newly hatched 

 larva of the Cynipid is of a remarkable form, it being armed 

 with darkly coloured segmental chitinous plates, and terminated 

 by a caudal prolongation of the body. In the second instar 

 the chitinous plates are lost, although the " tail " is still evident, 

 while the fully grown larva is of the usual maggot-like hymen- 

 opterous type, but has only six pairs of open spiracles. The 

 heavily armoured first larva is difficult to explain in an 

 endoparasite. It closely resembles the active, roaming, plani- 

 dium which occurs as the primary larva in certain other 

 parasitic Hymenoptera, and its retention in the Cynipid may, 

 perhaps, be a case of the survival of a former life-cycle not 

 unlike that of Perilampus. C. Morley {Entom., 55, 1-3) con- 

 tributes the first of a series of articles on the British Procto- 

 trypidae (Oxyura), which have, so far, been greatly neglected 

 by entomologists in this country. C. H. Mortimer {Ent. Month. 

 Mag., 58, 16-17) records the occurrence of males of Bombus 

 sylvaritm var. nigrescens (Perez) from the Newhaven district 

 in August last. This form has not previously been recorded in 

 the British Isles, and the record is of interest from the faunistic 

 standpoint. In the same journal (p. 19) this author also records 

 the very rare humble bee, Bombus cullumanns (Kirby), from 

 Sussex. Under the title of More Hunting Wasps, the late A. 

 de Mattos (London, n.d.) has brought together a series of 

 translations of Fabre's remarkable observations on the solitary 

 Vespidae. H. Hacker {Mem. Queensland Mus., vii., pt. 3) 

 catalogues the bees of Australia. The fauna is evidently very 

 rich in these insects, for no less than 50 genera and 872 species 

 are listed. The primitive bees of the family Prosopidas are 

 the best represented, while there are no Bombidse and only 

 one species of Nomadidse. 



Diptera. — R. Frey {Ada. Soc. Fauna et Flora Fennica, 48 

 [3], 245 pp.) has written an important and comprehensive 

 treatise on the structure of the mouth-parts in the lower Diptera 

 Schizophora. These organs have been examined in ninety 

 genera of flies, representative of forty-four groups, or families, 

 although it is doubtful whether all merit the latter rank. The 

 work has been carried out by means of potash preparations and 

 stained sections. It is accompanied by a general discussion of 

 the function and homologies of the mouth-parts, and there are 



