211 



RECENT LITERATUKE. 



h^-unomu-.—L. 0. Howard describes " The Principal Insects affectin- 



lie Tobacco Plant" (Farmers' Bull. 120, U.S. Dept. Agriculture^ 



1900, pp. 1-32, 2o text figures); and J. B. Smith discusses "The 



Role ot Insects in the Forest" (1900, Ann. Rep. State Geol. New 



Jersey for 1899, pp. 205-32, 9 figures). 



Economic— The Proceedm</s of the I'^th Auuiud Meetinr/ of the Association 

 of Economic Entomolo, lists (held in New York City last June) 

 contain, as usual, a number of reports and notices of general 

 interest. 



C. M. Weed describes the oviposition of an egg-parasite of Eu- 

 Vanessa antiopa. " Antiopa was seen ovipositing on SuIIk. After laying 

 about twenty eggs she flew away. The moment she left a small 

 hymenopteron — Telunomus tjraptce, Howard— was seen running over 

 the eggs. The parasite was watched for the next half-hour, during 

 which time it oviposited in fifteen eggs. Does the parasite ride 

 around on the butterfly, waiting for oviposition? " 



A. H. KiRKLAND reports on the Brown-tail Moth (scientific name 

 not given, but presumably Foithesia chri/sorrhiea) in Massachusetts. 

 The insect was first noted in the State in 1897, but it was possible to 

 ascertain the afifected area in 1896, and this was computed at 29 

 square miles ; in 1897 this had increased to 158 square miles, to 448 

 in 1898, and to 928 in 1899 ! It has now passed the borders of 

 Massachusetts into New Hampshire and Maine (1900, Proc. 12th Ann. 

 Meeting Assoc. Economic Entom. — U. S. Dept. Agriculture. Division 

 Entom. (n. s.). Bull. 26, pp. 1-102, 2 plates and 1 text figure). 



G. W. K. 



Economic. — E. Daguin. Les Insectes Comestibles dans I'antiquite et de 

 nos jours (Paris, 1900, pp. 1-29). 



This interesting but somewhat fantastic brochure is a reprint, in 

 dift'erent form, from the series of articles running some little while ago 

 in ' Le Naturaliste.' Commencing with a discussion on the propriety 

 of the word " insecte " being applied to a crustacean or a spider, the 

 author proceeds to dilate on the gustible properties of the latter. We 

 have already (1900, p. 87) cited the passage in which the celebrated 

 Lalande's passion for the succulent Arachnid was described ; Labil- 

 lardiere tells us that Epeira 7iov ce ■ holla n dice, Walck., is devoured by the 

 aborigines of Australia. We ourself have experimented in this way on 

 caterpillars, waterbugs, locusts, and aphides, but have not yet extended 

 our researciies to spiders. Krachenniuikov asserts that the women of 

 Kamtskatka, who desire to be blest with children, eat spiders. The 

 culinary properties of various coleopterous, lepidopterous larvte, of 

 locusts, and so forth, are discussed at some length. With regard to 

 locusts, the reviewer has eaten them ; it may possibly have been the 

 fault of the method of the preparation, but to his mind they cannot be 



