100 



PSYCHE. 



[June 1S91. 



which the more or less sinuous or zigzag 

 ribs form with their interspaces laterally al- 

 ternating, very similar and equal, angulate 

 elevations and depressions over the sides of 

 the egg; in the other the elevations are 

 more abrupt and rounded and are separated 

 from each other by nearly flat interspaces 

 The latter type is represented by aello, and ; 

 to judge from advance copies of one of his 

 next plates Mr. Edwards has kindly shown 

 me, to a more marked degree by one of the 

 species whose transformations are yet unpub- 

 lished; the other type includes semidea, jut- 

 ta, ivalda, iduna, chrysus, and macounii. 

 Second, there are two types of structure in 

 the caterpillars just from the egg, but these 

 two tvpes in no way correspond with those 

 found in the egg. In one, the terminal seg- 

 ment has the two posterior forks produced to 

 more or less blunt points and the notch be- 

 tween them is deep; in the other, these forks 

 are rather broadly truncate and the notch be- 

 tween them slight. To the latter belongs 

 onlv Oe. semidea; to the former, jutta, ival- 

 da, chryxus, macounii, and aello, as well as 

 the unpublished form referred to. 



The chrysalids, rs might be expected with 

 concealed objects, show little difference, but 

 in the imago a wide diversity exists, especi- 

 ally in the form of the wings and their 

 markings and in the presence or absence of 

 a discal streak upon the upper surface of the 

 fore wings of the male. But it would appear 

 that any division upon these grounds would 

 more or less cut athwart the groups derived 

 from the egg or the juvenile larva, unless it 

 be that the more rounded and less pointed 

 fore wing combined with a lack of ocelli and 

 of sexual adornment and the possession of 

 more densely and profusely haired mid and 

 hind femora in the imago is correlated with 

 the truncate tips of the forks of the last seg- 

 ment in the juvenile larva; in which case 

 the first larval stage of bore and brucei as 

 well as of oeno should, like semidea, show a 

 truncate extremity. Sandberg has described 

 (but insufficiently) the young larva of bore, 



and Edwards has raised but not published 

 brucei, so that we shall doubtless soon be 

 able to know whether this is true; if so, it 

 might be well to divide the genus into two 

 groups, to which the subgeneric names of 

 Oeneis and Chionobas might then be given, 

 the former to the latter group, the latter to 

 that of which Oe. semidea would be typical. 



Notes. — The second and somewhat 'tardy 

 part of Lowne's anatomy etc. of the blow 

 fly (London, Porter) is even more extended 

 than the first, containing 116 pages and 6 

 plates besides 17 figures in the text, all the 

 illustrations being very coarse but instructive 

 wood cuts. The part is entirely devoted to 

 the " integumental skeleton of the imago" 

 and is so detailed and so full of comparisons 

 that it almost serves the purpose of a general 

 treatise on entomology. Half a dozen topical 

 bibliographies scattered through the work 

 will be found very useful. 



The death is reported of M. Jules Ktinckel 

 d'Herculais, formerly president of the French 

 entomological society, while carrying on 

 official researches upon the destructive locusts 

 of Algeria. The sensational reports of the 

 press that he was overcome and devoured by 

 locusts is in no way to be credited. The 

 probable truth is that he was overcome by 

 the heat of the desert and died before his 

 body was found, the locusts devouring a por- 

 tion of his clothing. His superb quarto 

 volume, still incomplete, upon the genus 

 Volucella, with its 26 exquisite plates, is 

 practically a treatise on the anatomy of the 

 Diptera and will remain a monument to his 

 technical skill as anatomist and delineator. 



Concerning the distribution of Vanessa 

 cardui, Mr. Charles Oberthiir, in comment- 

 ing at the April meeting of the French ento- 

 mological society on Scudder's doubt (Butt. 

 N. E.,478) whether the species is indigenous 

 in French Guiana and in Tahiti, says that as 

 Boisduval neglected to attach any labels to 

 his exotic specimens of this species (except- 

 ing one from Madagascar) it is impossible to 



