NOTES ON A JULY TEIP IN SWITZERLAND. 287 



Occasionally a female cockroach may be captured with an ootheca 

 protruding from the apex of the abdomen and it will be noticed that 

 the position of the capsule between the lips of the valvular subgenital 

 lamina (last ventral plate) is such that the suture of the capsule is 

 uppermost. The female carries the c;ipsule thus protruding from the 

 end of her body for seven or eight days, and then deposits it in some 

 secure nook or cranny, either wedging it into a crack or else with a 

 drop of some glutinous material making it adhere slightly to some 

 foreign substance. 



The most important cockroach-parasites are the species of the 

 Hymenopterous genus Kvania, curious looking insects with the 

 abdomen small, triangular, much flattened from side to side, and 

 slung to the thorax by a slender pedicel. The inodiis operandi of the 

 parasite has, so far as I know, not been observed, but it is tempting 

 iS suppose that the female can slip her cleaver-like abdomen between 

 the lips of the oothecal suture, and so right into the ootheca itself; so 

 hard and horny is the capsule that the suture appears to be the only 

 part susceptible to attack. 



The egg-cases of Pen'planeta americana, the well-known " ship's 

 cockroach," and P. anstralasiae are very similar to that of />'. orientalh. 

 Both are abundant housshold pests in the tropics. It is concerning 

 certainly one of these two species that the following observations were 

 made in West Africa by Col. Wynn Sampson : — " Ootheca is similar 

 to the English one, but apparently the female is not satisfied with the 

 protection it affords to the egg, and she therefore not only covers it 

 over, but also uses the material of the substance to which the ootheca 

 is attached for this purpose. One specimen, for instance, was half 

 embedded in the top of a cork, and chips of cork completely covered 

 the capsule ; another was stuck on the edges of the leaves of a book 

 and was covered with fragments of paper ; another on the leather 

 binding of a book was covered with fragments of leather ; whilst a 

 fourth example was fastened to some mortar between two bricks, and 

 was actually covered with mortar." It is not without interest to note 

 that De Geer, quoting Madame Merian on the habits of I'eriplaneta 

 atiin-icoua, says that they cover their egg-cases with a " toile fine " ; 

 De Geer doubts the accuracy of his informant's observations, but it is 

 quite possible that Madame Merian was attempting to describe a habit 

 which has not been observed again for over a century. 



The egg-case of Deropeltis autraniana protrudes from the abdomen 

 of the female. The distortion, due to drying, shows that the ootheca is 

 more of a leathery consistency, and in this feature, together with its 

 greater length, it differs from those already described. It may be noted 

 here that the formation of the ootheca is gradual, proceeding from 

 backwards before, and the more advanced it is in development the 

 further it extrudes. 



Notes on a July trip to Switzerland. 



By B. S. CURWEN. 

 On July 5th I started for a twenty-five days' tour in Switzerland , 

 and as the weather was very fair, compared with the subsequent weird 

 meteorological happenings in August, and as butterflies were found to 

 be comparatively plentiful, a short account of my captures may prove 

 of interest. With me were a friend and my brother, neither of whom, 



