October — December 1SS4. 



PSYCHE. 



■iV 



dlssimilaritv of tlie sexes in Plcocoiiia . 

 which genus has been placed h\ 

 Leconte in the distant coprophagous 

 series of Lauicllicorns. Qiiite recently 

 Gcrhtiicker has pointed out" the close 

 I'elationship which exists between 

 Pleocoma and the European genus 

 Pachvpiis. the latter an undoubted 

 nielolonthian. The females in these 

 genera resemble each other closely, and 

 in both are without wings or wing- 

 covers. 



It seems probable that Leconte was 

 somewhat misled by the determination 

 of a larva described by Osten Sackeii as 

 tliat of Pleocoma.^ This larva is sup- 

 posed by Gerstiicker to belong to a 

 iucanid beetle, Init it \n\\\ with greater 



probability be conjectured to I>e tlie 

 larva of a Gcotriipcs. 



Between the females of Hvpotricliia 

 and those of Pleocouia evidences of re- 

 lationship are not wanting, and as both 

 must now be considered members of the 

 nielolonthian series, a closer comparison 

 than has vet been made will possibh' 

 bring tlie two genera into still more in- 

 timate relations. The series of genera, 

 Hypotrichia. Plcctrodes2iwA Pleocoma, 

 exhibits a verv instructive passage from 

 a winged insect with active powers of 

 flight, as in the male of Hxf atrichia, 

 to the degraded, wingless, and wholly 

 subterranean female of Pleocoma . 



2 Entom zeit .... Stettin, 1SS3, jilhrg. 44, p. 436. 

 ^ Tr.inS- amer. entom. soc, 1S74, v. 5, p. 84. 



Drinking Habit ok a Moth.' — 

 E. D. Jones describes a remarkable 

 thinking habit of a yellow and black 

 Brazilian inoth {PantJicra [corr.] par- 

 dalai-ia). He found these moths sit- 

 ting on the wet stones in small streams 

 near San Paulo, sucking up the water 

 in a continuous stream, and letting it 

 escape in drops from the tibdomen. 

 These drops fell at the average rate of 

 50 per minute, and as near as he could 

 judge of their size, the total quantity of 

 water which must thus pass through the 

 body of the moth in three hours must 

 he a cubic inch, or about 200 times the 

 bulk of its own body. Mr. Jones spec- 

 ulates on the possible meaning of this 



' Proc. lit. and phil. soc. Liverpool, 1SS3, v. 37, p. 

 76-77 ■ 



and asks — •'Can it be that the moth 

 extracts nourishment from minute parti- 

 cles of organic matter containetl in the 

 water.'" He remarks, however, that 

 the water of the streams appear verv 

 clear and pure, aiul notes that the moths 

 seems specitilly adapted for this, habit. 

 The tibiae of the hind legs are verv 

 thick, and are armed with long hairs.' 

 which by their capillar\' action prevent 

 the moth being inumersed in the water. 

 'T have often,'" he adds, "seen one of 

 them knocked down by a little spiu't of 

 water splashing over the stone on which 

 it was standing, and it recovered itself 

 almost immediately without being wet- 

 ted in the least." — yourn. ray. micros, 

 soc, Oct. 1884, s. 2, V. 4, p. 741. 



