July 1S91.] 



PSYCHE. 



117 



darker brown depressions. The tongue-case 

 was a sharp ridge extending to the apex of the 

 wing-cases. At its base, on each side, was a 

 dark, rough tubercle; on each eye-cover was 

 another; and on the apex of the head 

 another. The anal hook was long and 

 pointed, with a little spur near the tip. 

 , Caroline G. Soulc. 



On the food-habit of Telea Polyphe- 

 mus. — On June 10th emerged in one of my 

 boxes a J Telea polypkemns of normal size 

 and specially brilliant coloring. Its larval his- 

 tory was an experiment in food. The larva 

 was found just before the third moult, on a 

 small oak tree. Its food was varied every 

 day, and consisted of the following leaves, 

 given in the following order : — 



Oak, maple, willow, pine, white birch, 

 apple, chestnut, moosewood, wild grape, 

 poplar, walnut, elm, cherry, and then began 

 with oak again. The only leaf it refused 

 was sassafras. 



Chestnut, pine, and wild grape were new 

 to me as food-plants of T. polvphemus and 

 were suggested by finding larvae on them 

 several times last summer. 



The larvae on pine were especially large 

 and clear in color; those on wild grape, 

 markedly smaller. Caroline G. Soule. 



Recent literature. — Mr. J. W. Tutt, 

 who edits a journal whose special function 

 is to record all sorts of variation in insects 

 has just published the first volume (16, 

 164 pp.) of "The British Noctuae and 

 their varieties" in which over 100 species 

 and an enormous number of varietal forms 

 are described and named; scarcely a single 

 species escapes dirision, and some show ten 

 or fifteen varieties (Apamea didyma for in- 

 stance), while a distinction is further made 

 between varieties and subvarieties. Only 

 the imago is considered. A large amount of 

 the material is new, but the author has care- 

 fully collated all fragmentary notes in the 

 literature of the subject. In the introduction, 



which treats of variation in Lepidoptera 

 generally, its nature, extent and probable 

 causes, no reference is made to the claim the 

 author elsewhere refers to (Ent. rec, 1, 55-56) 

 that melanism has in some instances be- 

 come a prevailing feature in those parts of 

 England where manufacturing plants have 

 given a grimy aspect to nature. If this be 

 really true, and it would seem to be difficult to 

 prove incontestable, then natural selection 

 by elimination of the unfittest has certainly 

 produced a sensible degree of protective 

 mimicry within recent historic times. 



A painstaking, detailed account of the 

 postembryonal development, habits, and an- 

 atomy of Encyrtus fuscicollis has just been 

 given by Dr. E. Bugnion in the Recueil zoo- 

 logique suisse, accompanied by half a dozen 

 folding plates. The species investigated is 

 claimed to be parasitic on different caterpil- 

 lars, and among others on a Hyponomeuta 

 attacking the spindle tree in which the 

 author studied them. He raised 21 different 

 lots, and they usually yielded males or fe 

 males exclusively, and in half the other times 

 one sex was in excessive abundance. This 

 Encyrtus appears to lay its eggs (50-129) at 

 one thrust in the form of a single chain which 

 floats in the perivisceral cavity. At the end 

 of the embryonal period, or rather after the 

 first moult, the larvae pierce this tube, and 

 live on the lymph of the host till they are 

 ready for their change, when they devour the 

 viscera, form separate cocoons which pack 

 the body of the host to the utmost, and ap- 

 pear in the imago state in about three weeks ; 

 they at once pair. Whether they are double 

 brooded and in the second generation infest 

 some other insect is still a question ; if not, 

 the maintenance of the species depends on 

 the life of fertilized females from early in 

 August to sometime in April or May of the 

 succeeding year. 



The most considerable and valuable work 

 that has appeared for fifteen years on the 

 tertiary insects of Europe, has just been pub- 

 lished at Strassburg as part of the Abhand- 



