48 



PS C THE. 



April iSSS. 



Polistess well known to the Indians and 

 negroes. The nests of these birds are never 

 seen without a nest of these wasps in the 

 immediate vicinity — sometimes so near that 

 the bird when entering its own ne-t, touches 

 the combs of the wasps, which are not at all 

 disturbed by tins proceeding; but they vigoi- 

 ously resist any attempt to disturb the birds 

 nests. I know three species which are thus 

 friendly with these birds." — En torn, aiiieri- 

 r.ana, Dec. 1S85, v. i, p. 178-179. 



Mimetic coloration of pupae of but- 

 TERFLIES. — Ina paper by Gervase F. Mathew, 

 entitled, "Life history of three species of 

 western Pacific rhopalocera" (Trans. Entom. 

 soc. Lond., 1885, P- 3.S7-368), p. 364-365> 

 after some remarks on the method employed 

 by the author in rearing butterflies on board 

 ship in empty biscuit tins, the following- 

 statement occurs :— 



"The tins were secured upon a table in my 

 cabin, and on the wall behind these were 

 some pictures framed in maroon-colored 

 velvet. One moi-ning I noticed that a larva 

 oi Ptipilio ^odefroyi h^d attached itself to a 

 leaf which was almost touching one of these 

 frames, and when I looked at it the next 

 morning I was surprised to see that it had 

 changed to a chrysalis of a beautiful deep 

 rose-color. After this I thought I would try 

 some experiments, so I pinned some twigs, 

 to which were attached larvae that were on 

 the point of changing, to pieces of cork, to 

 which I had gummed scarlet, blue, black, 

 yellow and white papers. Those placed on 

 scarlet and white changed to rosy-pink chry- 

 salids, those on blue and yellow to green, and 

 those on black to very dark green. The 

 chrysalids oi Papilio godeff'royih^.ve a thinner 

 shell, and are more delicate than those of 

 Papilio sckmeltzi, and in consequence they 

 were probably more susceptible to rays of 

 light, for the former were more influenced b^' 

 the color of the background than the latter. 

 The newly changed chrysalids of both species 

 were pale green, and it was not until several 

 hours had elapsed that they assumed the color 

 of their surroundings. They are also very 



soft, and are covered with a thin coating of 

 some viscid substance, which may have the 

 power of absorbing refracted ra^s of color- 

 light as they dry and harden." 



Vitality of the larvae of Balaninis 

 — In an article entitled "Vitality of the larvae 

 of the nut-weevil,* by F. W. Leggett, in the 

 yonrncil of the New York microscoficul 

 society, for February 1886, v. 2. p. 30-31, the 

 author writes : 



Desiring to bleach a lar\a [of ^(7/<7«/';/k.';] 

 without destroying any of its softer parts. I 

 placed one in a six-inch test-tube, filled to 

 within one-half inch of its capacity, with per- 

 oxide of hydrogen, and here follows the result, 

 as copied from memoranda made by me at 

 the time : Put larva in test-tube at 7 p. m.. Jan_ 

 7th. Took it out at 5 p. m., Jan. 8th. Cut 

 oflfa part of the side of the larva and mounted 

 the piece cut oft". At 7, the same evening, 

 the creature was very lively. Placed it on a 

 slide and looked at it through the microscope^ 

 The creature continued very lively the 

 whole evening, altho the moisture iVom the 

 wounded part dried, and fastened the lar\a 

 firmly to the slide. Jan. 9th. 7.45 a. m.. the 

 the creature was still alive, altho the posteriop 

 end near the wound continued to be hard and 

 drv. On Jan. loth. at 2 p. m., I placed 

 another larva of the nut-weevil in the same 

 test-tube with the same peroxide of hydrogen. 

 Like the former one. it immediately sank to 

 the bottom, where it remained until Jan. I4th_ 

 at 7 p. m., when I removed it to a glass cup 

 and laid it on its side. Into this cup I poured 

 about twenty drops of water. On Jan. 15th 

 at 8.30 a. m., I found the creature expanding 

 and contracting itself. Thinking that this 

 motion might be an optical delusion on my 

 part, I showed it to two members of my 

 family. Both saw the movement distinctly^ 

 and further, when I touched the creature with 

 a needle, saw it raise its head in an unmis- 

 takaby living manner. On Jan. 16, this 

 lar\a was living and active. 



No. 143 was issued 9 March 1SS8. 



