January — February iSSS. 



PSrCHE. 



23 



ENTOMOLOGICAL ITEMS. 



Rovarta7ii lapok. the Hungarian entomo- 

 logical journal edited bj Dr. Geza Horvdth, 

 and published at Budapest, ceased to appear 

 with the numero for December 18S5, after 

 two years of existence. 



Prof. Lewis R. Gibbes, of Charleston, 

 S. C, reports receiving a specimen of 

 Helicoiiia charithonia from Beaufort, N. C, 

 in 1SS5. This is the northernmost point at 

 which it has been found. It is rare at 

 Wilmington Island, near Savannah, Georgia, 

 according to Dr. A. Oemler. It is more 

 common at St. Simons Island and Port 

 Royal, S. C, but it is not a common butter- 

 fly north of Florida. 



Pre-servation of living colonies of 

 Termes lucifugus. — Dr. G. Horvath, in an 

 article in the numero of Rovarlani lapok for 

 October, 1S85, on the discovery of Tertnes 

 liicifngiis in Hungary, states that Lespes, 

 who studied very carefully the anatomy of 

 these insects, was unable to keep living colo- 

 nies for two months. Horvath, on the other 

 hand, has succeeded in keeping colonies alive 

 for two years, by taking pains to sprinkle the 

 nests each day with a few drops of water. 



Entomology in geography and litera- 

 ture. — Among late contributions to the con- 

 nection of literature and entomology are two 

 short papers in Rozmrtatii lapok for Septem- 

 ber and October 1S85, respectively. The 

 first is a paper by Geza Horvath on the part 

 which the Hungarian names of insects have 

 played in giving names to towns, villages, 

 and farms in Hungary. There are more than 

 a hundred such names. The second is a 

 paper, by Bela Chyzer, "On cocct7tellidae in 

 the infantile poetry of Hungary," in which 

 eight examples are given of children's verses 

 in which the lady-bugs are mentioned. 



Chemically-produced varieties of col- 

 EOPTERA. — Mr. Albert Berge states (Compt- 

 rendu Soc. entom. Belg., for Nov. 1885), 

 that he has been able to produce all 



the numerous color-varieties of Carabus 

 auronitens by chemical means. He does not 

 enter into details of his processes, as he 

 states that he is intending to prepare a more 

 extensive work on the subject, including in 

 it all the coleoptera ; but he makes the gen- 

 eral statement that alkalies and acids produce 

 colors varying from brown through red to 

 yellow, and that calcic chloride and heat 

 produce all the tints from green to violet. 

 Mr. Berge does not claim that these varieties 

 are caused in nature in the same way in 

 which he has produced them. 



Prof. K. Lindeman. in an article entitled, 

 "Die am getreide lebenden thrips-arten Mit- 

 telrusslands" (Bull. Soc. imper. natur. Mosc, 

 1886, V. 62, p. 296-337) gives an extended 

 illustrated account of the life-history of 

 tkrips secalitia and pkloeot/irtps fnimentaria, 

 w^iich do extensive injury to grain in Russia, 

 and adds notes on thrips atiteiinata, t. rufa, 

 and phloeotki'tps armata^ which also live on 

 grain. Injury is caused to grain in two ways 

 by thrips. First the larvae, in large num- 

 bers, pierce the ear before it has made its 

 appearance, to such an extent that they cause 

 the death of the tip of the ear. When the 

 ears have further developed both larvae and 

 full-grown thrips pierce the young seed-buds, 

 causing death to the blossoms, and, conse- 

 quently, poorly-filled heads. 



Swarming of aphides at Peterborough, 

 England. — The etitotnologist (Oct. 1885, v, 

 18, p. 267-268) quotes the following from the 

 Stamford and Rutla?id guardian for 14 

 August, 1S85 : — Abundance of aphides at 

 Peterborough. — On Thursday, the central 

 streets of the town were rendered impassible 

 with any amount of comfort, owing to the 

 air being thickly laden with myriads of green 

 flies, in some parts almost resembling a mist. 

 The town air seemed in the long-run to upset 

 them, for they were late in the day to be seen 

 covering the ground to nearly an inch in 

 depth. The Corn Exchange had just been 

 re-painted, and acted as an admirable fly- 



