\Q'2 Insecta. 



species; (II) genera already known but represented by new species; (III) known genera 

 represented by species known from otlier countries. The affinities of the forms composing 

 these three categories are discussed at some length. The author summarises the Seychelles 

 Pselaphidae from the bio-geographic point of view as follows: there are 4 exclusively 

 eiidemic species belonging to 3 exclusively endemic genera: t peculiar species derived 

 from Asiatic forms; 7 new species modified more or less from Oceano-Malay types; 1 new 

 species of Indo- Africau type; and one African species, this being the only one known 

 from ontside the Seychelles. We are thus brought to the striking conclusion that the 

 Pselaphid fauna of the Seychelles has no affinity at all with that of Madagascar: but 

 in the case of 6 out of the 12 genera, and 11 out of the 17 species, it is to the most 

 Easterly lands of coutinental Asia and the Malay Archipelago, even to the boundaries 

 of the Pacific Ocean, that one must look for forms presenting morphological affinities 

 with those composing the Seychelles fauna. This strong Eastern element in the fauna 

 is very similar to what is found in certain otber groups of Seychelles insects, e. g. the 

 Phasmidae. Equally striking are the lacunae in the Seychelles Pselaphid fauna. The 

 great mass of forma constituting the genug Bryuxis and allied genera, found everywhei e 

 eise in the workl where Pselaphidae have been found at all, is completely absent. The 

 tribe Pselaphini, found all over the world except in Madagascar; the almost cosmo- 

 politan Ctenistiui; the Tyrini, spread over all the warmer regions from temperate 

 Europe to New Zealand; and lastly the Clavigeridae, whose geo^raphical centre is 

 Madagascar; all these groups appear to be entirely absent. The Pselaphid fauna of 

 Madagascar, so far as known, is very isolated, but has not a single point of contact 

 with that of the Seychelles, the two lands not possessing a single genus in common 



H. Scott (Cambridge). 



254) Touilin, J. K. le B., Pairing of different species of Coccinellidae. In: Ent. 

 Mo. Mag., Bd. XXIV, Heft In, S. 229, Htl3. 



A brief note recording the pairing of a J Coccinella 1 -punctata (with black spots 

 on a reddish ground) with a J Adalia bipunctata. H. Scott (Cambridge). 



255) Sharp, W. E., Cteniopus S'ulpltureus, L.: a study in masculine mu- 

 tability. In: Ent. Record and Journ. Variation, Bd. 25, Heft 5, S. 140—141, 

 1913. 



The writer puts on record the much greater variability of this beetle in the 

 d" sex than in the $, and the fact that all the distinct varieties known on the 

 continent of Europe are present also in Britain, and similarly confined to the d' 

 sex. Some principle enables or induces the d", much more than the 5» to vary in 

 the direction of unequal individual pigmentation. Among those factors which de- 

 termine pigmentation, there seems to be a wider choice of alternatives, or a 

 freer response to environment, in the c? of this insect than in the ?. This is so 

 whether we regard the varietal forms as the simple result of inheritance, or as 

 originating independently in each individual in response to environmental Stimuli. 

 The author recommends careful breeding-experiments with C. sidphumis. 



H. Scott (Cambridge). 



256) Gortner, R. A., Notes on a differential mortality observed bet- 

 ween Tenchrio ohscuriis and T. molifor. In: Amer. Natural, Bd. 47, S. 572 

 bis 576, 1913. 



The exposure of the larvae of these two species to higher temperature for 

 a few hours caused much greater mortality among the T. nioUtor larvae than in 

 the other species. Exposure to cold causes differential mortality in the opposite 

 direction, 9l7o ^^ ^'- ^olitor remaining alive while 50 ^y^ of T.ohscurus died. When 

 subjected to COg for 2 1 to 51 hours the mortality is greatest in T. obsciirus. 

 There appears to be a higher death-rate of the latter species under natural con- 

 ditions. Gates (London). 



257) Jordan, K., An almond-feeding Chalcid. lu: Proc. Ent Soc. London, S. XVII — 

 XVIII, 1913. 



