1 



insects of this colony had the same curious hahit ; hut on trying 

 the same experiment with a Sjyhex of the following year, after 

 two or three disappointments the Sj^hex learned wisdom by 

 experience, and carried the grasshopper directly down into 

 the cell. 



M. Fahre has also published* a short but interesting memoir 

 on the habits of Halictus cylindricus and H. sexcinctus. In this 

 genus we find the first step, as it were, to the well-organised 

 association of Bees, Wasps and Ants. Each female Halictus 

 prepares, as usual without any assistance from the male, her 

 own cell, and feeds her own young ; but, on the other hand, the 

 separate cells open into a common passage which is the joint 

 possession of several bees. These species are very early risers, 

 and rest during the greater part of the day, excavating, it would 

 appear, their galleries for the most part during the night, and 

 collecting pollen in the early morning only. They are double- 

 brooded. The September brood contains rather more males 

 than females — about four to three. The males soon perish, but 

 the females remain quiet in their cells till the spring, when they 

 emerge, lay their eggs, provision their cells, and then die in their 

 turn. These eggs, however, M. Fabre assures us, produce no 

 males, so that the summer brood consists of females only, 

 affording an interesting and remarkable instance of Partheno- 

 genesis. It is possible that the same rule may be found to occur 

 among other double-brooded insects. 



Mr. Goss has given us a very interesting summary of the 

 present state of our knowledge on " The Geological Antiquity 

 of Insects." The Neuroptera and Orthoptera are the oldest 

 orders ; then come the Coleoptera and Hemiptera, followed by 

 the Diptera, Hymenoptera, and Lepidoj^tera. As regards the 

 latter, there is indeed much difference of opinion. M. Coemans 

 discovered in 1875, at Sars-Longchamps, in the Belgian Coal- 

 measures, an insect which Dr. Breyer believed to be Lepi- 

 dopterous ; in which view he is supported by M. Preudhomme 

 and Mr. Wallace. Mr. M'Lachlan, on the contrary, regards it 

 as Neuropterous. Mr. Butler has also described an Oolitic insect 

 under the name of Palaontiria oolitica, which he supposed to be 

 Lepidopterous ; Mr. Scudder, however, with whom Mr. Goss is 

 disposed to agree, regards it as Homopterous. 



* Ann. Sci. Nat., 1880, p. 3. 



