September— Octolicr iSSS.J 



PSYCHE. 



119 



ENTOMOLOGICAL ITEMS. 



A NEW BEE-ENEMY. — According to a cor- 

 respondent of the Magdebiirger zeitung, 

 quoted by Dr. Ferdinand Rudow in Societas 

 entomologica, TabcDiiis bovinus attacks and 

 kills the honev.bee {Apis mellifica) much in 

 the same manner as Asiltis does. 



Mr. Albert Koebele, for some time stationed 

 at Alameda, Cal., as an agent of the Division 

 of entomology, U. S. Department of agri- 

 culture, has sailed for Australia. His object 

 is to study the parasites of the Cottony- 

 cushion scale, Icerya purchasi. 



Tyler Townsend. Our correspondent, 

 now assistant in the Division of entomology, 

 U. S. Department of agriculture, who has 

 written formerly over the signature "C: H: 

 Tyler Townsend," informs us that he has 

 decided to drop the given names "C: H: ", 

 and to be known hereafter as "Tyler Town- 

 send." 



Metal-cutting beetle. — Mr. F. W. De- 

 voe, in a paper in the July numero of the 

 Journal of the New York microscopical soci- 

 ety, describes how zof herns mcxica/iiis, a 

 beetle commonly known in Central America 

 under the name " makeche," eats through 

 pewter. Figures of the mouth-parts of the 

 beetle are given. 



Change of Title. — The Correspondenz- 

 blatt des Entomologishen vereins ''Iris" zu 

 Dresden will hereafter appear under the title 

 "Deutsche entomologischezeitschrift,heraus. 

 gegeben von der Deutschen entomologischen 

 gesellschaft. Lepidopterologische hefte, 

 herausgegeben von dem Entomologischen 

 vereine "Iris" zu Dresden." 



Vitality of the larva of Derme.stes. — 

 At the meeting of the New York microscopi- 

 cal society, 4 May 1888, "Mr. F. W. Leg- 

 gett announced the death of his larva of 

 Dermestes^ which had withstood, for five 

 months and twenty daj's, solitary confine- 

 ment in a closed cell, and had subsisted 

 during that period upon its own cast skins, 

 having moulted five times." 



Effect of Poisons on Gyrinus. — M. V. 



Brandicott (Bull. mens. Soc. linn, du nord 

 d. 1. France, July i8S7,v.S,p. 296), in a review 

 of a paper by M. Charles Richet (Revue 

 scientifique, 18S6, v. 37, p. 10-17, 44-49) says : 

 Gyrinus iiaiator, hatched in a solution of 

 0.25 percent of atropin, were better developed 

 and lived longer than others hatched in distil- 

 led water. 



Adult Gyrinus put in poisoned solutions 

 died at the end of 24 hours in veratrin, strych" 

 nin, and cinchonin ; after 5 days in atropin, 

 and after 12 days in morphin. 



Poison-apparatus of the MosqyiTO. My 

 former notes on this subject {Science, 26 

 August, 1887; Proceedings of the American 

 Association 1887) require amendment in the 

 following respects: (1) the poison-fang is 

 simple, being in fact the hypopharynx, as 

 was suspected by Dimmock; (2) the paired 

 branches of the poison-duct run backwards 

 into the prothorax; (3) the secreting glands 

 are in two paired systems, one system, in each 

 side of the prothorax. Each system consists 

 of three trifoliate glands, the mid-gland being 

 poisonous, the lateral ones salivary; the 

 three ductules uniting into the branch of the 

 poison-duct of its own side. The other details 

 are as before described. G. Macloskie 

 {Science 2 1 September, 1888, v. 7, p, 144). 



Rhynchophora. Lieut. Thomas L. Casey 

 continues his descriptions of new North 

 American coleoptera in the Annals New York 

 academy of sciences, 1888 v. 4, p. 229-296. In 

 the introductory pages, referring to his col- 

 lection of Pacific coast beetles, the author 

 says, "it has been my special aim to obtain 

 as large a series as possible of every species, 

 for the purpose of studying variation, and 

 these series have already proved one of the 

 greatest aids in estimating the validity of 

 closely allied forms " It is to be regretted 

 that this quotation cannot apply to the 

 rkyncophora, a group where large series are 

 particularly important. Fifty-five new species 

 are described, twenty-five are uniques and of 

 forty-four less than four specimens were at 

 hand when the descriptions were drawn up. 

 Though stated, p. 229, as "issued August 



