ZOOLOGY. 447 



a small spiral tube, aud traced it to a glandular body which he consid- 

 ered to have been previously overlooked. A fall description has been 

 given, but it cati be only stated here that Mr. Spaulding believes that 

 these glands, on account of their size, position, and outlet, furnish the 

 secretion which changes the nectar into honey. As to their homologies, 

 he suggests that they are the spinning glands of the larvse modified for 

 the new function, and that in such cases they should be found more or 

 less developed or aborted in other Hymenoptera. 



Aqtiatic Lepidopterotis Larvce. 



The butterflies and especially their caterpillars are so associated in 

 our minds with terrestrial vegetation, that few conceive of the existence 

 of forms that spend their entire larval condition in the Avater, and 

 that are especially adapted for aquatic respiration. Yet M. 0. Maurice 

 has indicated that most of the prominent groups of the Lepidoptera 

 have aquatic representatives. Members of the families BombycidoB 

 and Si^hiugidae live during their caterpillar stage in the waters, but 

 none are known to have tracheal gills. The larva of Para/ponyx, a 

 form of the family Pyralidse, however, has long been known to be pro- 

 vided with branchise as well as spiracles, and its pupa to live in its 

 cocoon among leaves under water. The structure of that type has been 

 re-examined by M. Maurice so far as its respiratory functions are con- 

 cerned. The tracheal gills have delicate membranes subservient to an 

 endosmosis of oxygen and exosmosis of carbonic acid. The stigmata 

 occur in the thoracic regions, but are not functional in the larva and 

 are closed by a delicate membrane. It is only when the animal is left 

 exposed to the direct air — for instance, by the desiccation of the marsh 

 in which it has lived — that functional activity for the spiracles super- 

 venes. (J. R. M. S. (2), I, 730, from Bull Sc. Dep. Nord., IV, 115-120.) 



The proboscis of the Lepidoptera. 



The proboscis of the Lepidoptera has been examined by M. Breiten- 

 bach, with a view to determine its origin and the homologies of its 

 parts. "Without at all indorsing his views, we submit an abstract of 

 them. 



The proboscis is represented " in the early stages, for in the late 

 larva it has been found already represented by two long, curved cords. 

 But, further, the obvious connections of the group with the Trichoptera 

 show that the biting mouth of the latter has produced the sucking 

 tube of the former by modification of the labium, maxilla?, and labrum, 

 which were first all united in a tubular organ; the edges of the two 

 maxillaj then became more closely approximated, and the share of the 

 other two parts in the organ became unnecessary, and they were ex- 

 cluded from it. This metamorphosis, however, was probably made in 

 various stages, each having some definite advantage to the insect as its 



