270 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



out of the inner angle of the left front wing it is in very fair con- 

 dition. Although it seemed an ideal night for sugaring, there was 

 only one other insect (an Hadcena adusta) on the whole of my patch. 

 Mr. Arthur Home, of Aberdeen, kindly identified it for me, and his 

 decision was confirmed by Mr. J. P. Mutch, of Hornsey Eoad. — 

 KoLAND G. Benton ; Muswell Hill, N. 



Deiopeia pulchella in Derbyshire. — May I bring to your 

 notice the capture of a female Deiopeia pulchella. The moth was 

 taken on June 14th by a member of the Trent College Nat. Hist. 

 Soc, and was beaten out of laurel bushes in the college grounds. 

 It is not a good specimen, probably owing to the buffetings received 

 on its long journey. I believe there are very few, if any, records of 

 the capture of Deiopeia pulchella in a locality so far from the sea as 

 Trent, and, so far as I know, it is some years since it was taken at 

 all in England. — H. H. Wallis ; Trent College, Derbyshire, July 

 24th, 1913. 



RECENT LITEEATURE. 



The Remarkable Life-history of a neio Family {Micromalthidce) of 

 Beetles. By Herbert S. Barber, Bureau of Entomology, 

 Washington, D.C. 

 In this paper, which has just appeared in the ' Proceedings ' of 

 the Biological Society of Washington (vol. xxvi. pp. 159-190, August 

 8th, 1913), Mr. Barber has given a further account"'' of his very inte- 

 resting observations on the life-history of a little North American 

 beetle, Micromalthus debilis, Lee. Although some of the most 

 important stages in the life-history have not yet been observed, the 

 facts already brought to light are more than sufficient to justify the 

 claim that the life-history of this beetle is " the most remarkable in 

 the Coleoptera, if not one of the most remarkable in the whole 

 class Insecta." Micromalthus " combines in its life cycle — eggs by 

 two methods of reproduction, seven or eight forms of larvae, adults 

 through two distinct lines of larvae, oviparous paedogenesis and vivi- 

 parous paedogenesis." The larvae live in rotten wood, and amongst 

 them one form was observed which was more robust than the others, 

 and appeared to be almost free from segmentation ; this gave birth to 

 a numlDer of living young — minute white larvae, distinguished by 

 having long slender legs of the Caraboid type : that is, with a distinct 

 tarsal segment provided with two claws at the end. These larvae 

 constitute a sort of migratory stage. They crawl away and wander 

 for a time, then start burrowing in the wood, feed a little, and after 

 a week or so moult into the second form, which is legless and much 

 resembles a Cerambycid larva. A^fter one or two more moults the 

 Cerambycoid larva either rarely pupates, or usually moults, dis- 

 closing the paedogenetic form. After a period of about two weeks 

 the young, numbering from three or four to thirty or forty, but 

 usually about ten, are born, tail first, and begin the new generation. 

 Certain individuals of the paedogenetic form, however, do not develop 



^' A preliminary account appeared earlier this year (Proc. Ent. Soc. 

 Washington, xv. No. 1). 



