1919.] 109 



removing a partially decayed barge-bnard from the roof of an old fowl-hoiif»e 

 overgrown by trees,! discovered, closely liuddled together, in a apace underneath 

 the board, a mature male " weta " and no fewer than three mature females. This 

 observation would seem to suggest that each male may regularly consort with 

 several females which, if correct, would be a most unusual habit amungr-t 

 insects. It thus appears probable that the extremely forbidding appearanoo of 

 the male "Weta," with his huge head and jaws and ferocious demeanour, 

 is indicative of an intense rivalry between the members of that sex, and a heavy 

 mortality of the weaker males, brought about by this rivalry, may explain why 

 the female insect is more frequently met with. Actual conflicts between males 

 could hardly be witnessed owing to the strictly nocturnal h>ibits of the insect. — • 

 G. V. Hudson, Hillview, Karori, Wellington, N.Z. : February 2\8t, 1919. 



SociSU Entomologique de Belgique. — In a Circular recently received from 

 this Society, dated February 18th, 1919, and signed by the Secretary, 

 M. Schouteden, we gather the following particulars as to the resumption 

 of their Meetings, and the continuance of the publication of their " Annales," 

 vol. Iviii (1914) of the latter having been stopped during the war. At an 

 ICxtraordinary General Meeting of the Society held on February 16th, at the 

 Rue de Namur 89, Brussels, it was decided that the Monthly Meetings would 

 be resumed on March 1st, and that a Tiew class of Members, " Membres 

 Associ^s," would be instituted. These latter to pay 7.50 fr. annually (in'<tead 

 of 16 fr., the rate for a "Membre Effectif "), and be eligible to attend the 

 Meetings, Conferences, and excursions organised by the Society, and to receive 

 the "Bulletin" (to be started during the present year) free. The mini mum 

 age for this new Class is fixed at 15 years. We trust that the Society will 

 soon be able to resume its pre-war activity, an uninterrupted series of 

 57 volumes of the " Annales," a series of 21 M^moires, etc., having already, 

 been issued under its auspices. — Eds. 



"The Zygoptera, or Damsel-fliks, of Illinois." By Philip 

 Garman, Ph.D. Bulletin of the Illinois State Laboratory of Natural 

 History, vol. xii, article iv, June 1917. Pp. 411-587, pis. Iviii-lxxiii. 



It is to be regretted that a notice of this publication should have been so 

 long delayed, but it is hoped that it may not yet be considered too late to con- 

 gratulate Dr. Garman and the Illinois State Laboratory upon a production of 

 outstanding merit. It is too often a fault of papers professing a restricted 

 geographical outlook that they fail to prepare the student in any way for a 

 more extended study of the subjects of which they treat. The work before us 

 is entirely free from that blemish, and provides an excellent introduction to the 

 science of dragon-flies, properly so-called, Pei-haps the most arresting feature 

 of the paper is the large proportion of nymphs of which it has been possible to 

 furnish descriptions and figures. Several of these are admittedly new to science^ 

 and it would have been a good thing if the author could have stated that 

 he was describing a nymph for the first time, whenever such was actually 

 the case. 



