ENTOMOLOGY 565 



tables of the families based upon characters afforded by the 

 latter. Appended to it are ten plates, containing 126 figs, and 

 a very full bibliography. C. G. Lamb {Proc. Camb. Phil. Soc, xx 

 [3], 293-7) describes some venational aberrations and comments 

 upon their rarity in Diptera. The same author {ibid. [4], 475-7) 

 describes an unusual type of male secondary sexual characters in 

 a new genus of Dolichopodidse from the Seychelles. The male has 

 shorter and differently shaped wings from the female, and also 

 possesses a pair of remarkable spheroidal bodies, at the base of 

 the abdomen on its dorsal surface. The function of these 

 organs is highly problematical. The ovary and ovarian eggs 

 of Anopheles maculipennis form the subject of a detailed 

 histological study by A. J. Nicholson {Q.J. M.S., 65, 395-448), 

 and in the same journal (61 1-23) D. Keilin writes on the presence 

 of CaCOg in the Malpighian tubes, or in cells connected with 

 the fat-body, in many dipterous larvae. During the pupal stage 

 the CaCOg completely dissolves in the perivisceral fluid, and 

 then passes through the newly formed pupal cuticle into the 

 ecdysial fluid. When the latter is absorbed the CaCOg remains 

 as a deposit upon the inner surface of the puparium. It is 

 evidently an excretory process, and the CaCOg may possibly 

 be derived from the neutralisation of the COg of respiration. 

 H. M. Morris {Bull. Ent. Res., 12 [3], 221-32) gives a useful 

 description of the larval and pupal stages of certain of the 

 Bibionidae, with particular reference to Bibio niarci L. He 

 points out that the larvae of different, although often closely 

 allied, species may be readily separated by the form and 

 structure of the cuticular spines and nodules distributed over 

 the general surface of the body. In the same journal (263-362) 

 F. W. Edwards contributes an important revisionary paper on 

 the mosquitoes of the Palaearctic region. It is based upon not 

 only adult characters, but also on those of the larvae wherever 

 known. Metcalf {Ann. Ent. Soc. Am., 14 [3], 169-214), dis- 

 cusses the morphology and taxonomic significance of the male 

 genitalia in Syrphidae, and his paper is accompanied by many 

 illustrations. E. W. Laake {Journ. Agric. Res., 21 [7], 439-57) 

 has a paper on the larval stages of the Ox- Warble flies. Hypo- 

 derma bovis and H. lineata. He finds that good distinguishing 

 characters are afforded by the structure of the posterior spiracles 

 and other parts. It is, therefore, possible to determine with 

 certainty which of these two species is infecting a given 

 animal. In addition to the four instars already known, he 

 finds that an additional one is passed through and occurs in 

 the oesophagus. 



Hemiptera. — R. J. Tillyard {Proc. Linn. Soc, N.S.W., 

 46, 270-87) establishes a new family — ^the Mesogereonidae — 

 for a large Cicada-like insect, examples of whose wings have 



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