CURRENT NOTES. 307 



ment on lines similar to that adopted in the more primitive si'0"P. 

 differing but little from that offered by Burr in the Genera Imertnnon. 

 It is noteworthy that in this higher group of earwigs we find a more 

 uniform and simple type of male genital organ ; the suggestion being 

 that the diversity of type shown in the Protodermaptera is a series of 

 experiments on the part of Nature, aiming at an ideal form. — M.B. 



The Annual Pocket- box Exhibition of the South London Entomo- 

 logical and Natural History Society, on Thursday, November 28th, 

 was a great success. Each year this Society seems to outdo itself. 

 There were more than a hundred members and their friends from other 

 societies present in the room, a large proportion of whom brought 

 exhibits. The exhibits themselves were mainly Lepidoptera, and were 

 extensive, varied, and interesting. A full report of them will be pub- 

 lished later. In the meantime we have been asked, in the interests of 

 the general lover of nature, of the younger members and of the visitors, 

 to ventilate a grievance. Many of the exhibitors did not, or did not 

 adequately, label their exhibits with their specific names and indicate 

 full details of the purport of the exhibits, not even was the name of the 

 exhibitor on the box. These deficiencies are often much accentuated by 

 twoothercircumstances,both, however,more or less unavoidable ; first it 

 is impossible for those examining exhibits which are passing round the 

 room to, at the same time, attend to what is being said by other exhibi- 

 tors at the table, and secondly, it is often impossible for those not 

 sufficiently close up to be able to hear what is said by the exhibitor. 

 It seems advisable in future that a special request should be made to 

 all intending exhibitors to adequately label their boxes with (1) specific 

 names, (2) the full purport of the exhibit, and (3) the exhibitor's 

 name. 



In the Entomoloiiieal Neir>i for October is a most interesting article 

 by Mr. A. A. Girault, of Brisbane, Australia, recounting his " Experi- 

 ments with the Effects of the Protective Vapours of Heteroptera on 

 Other Insects." In each case two vials were taken. In one the Hete- 

 ropteron was introduced and was kept for some time, occasionally being 

 roughly shaken up to cause it to discharge its vapour. Ants, aphids, 

 and other small insects were then obtained, the bug hastily removed 

 and one ant introduced into the infected vial, while the other ant was 

 put into the clean vial and used as a control. In most of the experi- 

 ments, when properly carried out, it was found that the insect placed 

 in the infected vial more or less rapidly succumbed to the influence of 

 the vapour, while the insect in the control vial was absolutely unaffected 

 by its confinement. Mr. Girault sums up the result by saying, " There 

 can be little doubt from what has been recorded that the vapours 

 emitted by certain Heteroptera are highly noxious to certain forms of 

 insect life, in many cases quickly stupefying some insects when the latter 

 are exposed to them in an air-tight receptacle." And again, " The 

 actual protection must consist in being distasteful or obnoxious, not in 

 causing serious injury, stupor or death to the attacking animals, since 

 the latter must involve, under natural conditions, actual handling or 

 even swallowing of the protected insect, in order that the protective 

 vapour would have time to be effective, even if then effective." And 

 still again, " It works through the memory of the young attacking 

 animals, not stupifying or killing them, but giving them such an 

 experience of unpalatableness, that they soon learn to avoid attacking." 



