Jnly— August iS'!,!.] 



psr( HE. 



ENTOMOLOGICAL ITEMS. 



The seventh congress of Russian natn- 

 ralists and physicians will be held this year 

 at Odessa, from 30 Aug. to g Sept. 



Dr. Hagen notes in the April numero 

 of the Entomologist' a mo. magazine, that 

 Simitlium. the "black-flv," sucks out the juices 

 of chr\salids of Pieris mcnapia. 



The first numero of Zoologische Bci- 

 triige, a new German journal, contains a 

 paper by Prof Anton Schneider on the de- 

 velopment of Sp/iaeriilaria hombi. the curious 

 heminth parasitic in Bonihiis-. 



William Alexanuer Forbes, a rising 

 English naturalist who has devoted much 

 time to entomology, died at Shonga, on the 

 upper Niger, Africa, on 14 Jan. 1SS3. He 

 was born at Cheltenham. England. 24 June 

 18,-5. 



From several parts of Sweden the ap- 

 pearance of an unknown caterpillar, which 

 consumes the crops, is reported. Its length 

 is from one inch to one and a half, and its 

 color grev-brown with green stripes. In one 

 place it put in an appearance immediately 

 aftei" a violent storm with rain. The Acade- 

 my of agriculture has despatched an ento- 

 mologist to visit the places from which it is 

 reported. — Natnre, 5 July 1883, v. 28, p. 234. 

 Prof. Phillip Christoph Zfller. of 

 Griinliof. near Stettin. Germany, died at that 

 place 27 March 1S83. He was born 9 .Vpril 

 180S. at Steinheim-on-the-Miirr. in Wiirttem- 

 berg. Prof. Zeller was a well-known au- 

 thority on miciolepidoptera. some of his 

 papers dealing with those of North America. 

 An interesting biography of Prof Zeller. bv 

 II. T. Stain ton, is given in the Entomolo- 

 gist's monthlv magazine. June 18S3. \. iri. 

 p. 1-8. 



Mr. Ed.mund Baynes Reed has compiled 

 a very convenient ■•General inde.v to the 

 thirteen annual reports of the Entomological 

 society of the province of Ontario. 1870- 

 1882" which has been published by the soci- 

 ety. In a few instances the compiler, prob- 

 ablv inadvertentlv. has used lower-case ini- 



tial letters for generic names, and often 

 lower-case lettei's for specific names derived 

 from names of persons, mythological char- 

 acters and places. A consistent and general 

 use of lower-case initial letters, at least for 

 species, would have been still more accept- 

 able to the writer. Some errors in ortho- 

 graphy and typography occur, but do not les- 

 sen the general usefulness of Mr. Reed's 

 index. G: D. 



M. FREDEKicq_, of Li^ge. says the English 

 mechanic, lately put several aquatic coleoptera 

 (including the great water beetle) in ac]ueous 

 solution of curare and strychnine in poison- 

 ous quantity. A few drops of these liquors 

 sufficed to poison a frog in a few minutes. 

 The insects, however, lived in them, some 

 more than a fortnight, others nearly a month 

 (^when the experiment was concluded). These 

 coleoptera are certainly sensible to the action 

 of curare and strychnine, and the absence 

 of symptoms of poisoning in the present 

 case must be (the author says) because the 

 absorption by the surface of the body and 

 the mouth was nil. M. Plateau has previous- 

 ly observed that aquatic coleoptera kept in 

 sea water do not absorb its salts. — Amer. 

 nat.. Aug. 1883. V. 17. p. 903-904 



In the Bulletin of the Buffalo naturalists, 

 field club for March of the present year 

 (1S83). Prof. D. S. Kellicott. of Buffalo, 

 describes and figures a remarkable larva 

 which he has this year found parasitic upon 

 and destroying nearly all of the galls of Ceci- 

 domyia salicis-batatus fhat had foimerlv 

 abounded upon some low willows occupying 

 waste land near the citv. The larva was 

 found to be a species of Platygaster belong- 

 ing to the group known as that of the ■•c\'- 

 clops larvae," from the great resemblance 

 its larvae bear to the crustaceans of the ge- 

 nus Cyclops. The peculiar manner in which 

 the five-jointed abdomen is folded under- 

 neath the body, like that of a cray-fish pro- 

 tecting her eggs, makes it a verv interesting 

 form. 



We hope that Prof Kellicoft mav soon 

 be able to determine the species, if it be one 

 tliaf has already been described. 7"- -"!■ /-■ 



