Hi 



terminal segment is also really double. In that case, the number 

 of segments will be the same as in Pmiropus. The wider form, 

 the position of the head, and the peculiar tubercles and spines on 

 the skin, seem to justify the establishment of a new genus ; and 

 Mr. Eyder even proposes for his little creature a new family. 



Dr. Haller has described (Ar. f. Natur., p. 369) a species of 

 mite, Tromhidium andiens, in which he considers that the eye of 

 other Tromhidiums has been modified into an organ for hearing. 

 The discovery of an undoubted ear in a Tromhidium would itself 

 be a point of considerable interest, but such a change of function 

 as that an organ of vision should change into an ear is certainly 

 most remarkable ; and we should require clear proof that the 

 organs are really homologous, and that the one is truly an ear. 

 Dr. Haller describes, in the present case, two groups of bodies 

 which he considers to be otolithes, but has not been able to detect 

 any auditory hairs. He figures the organ in question on a small 

 scale, but, considering the interest attached to the observation, 

 it is to be hoped that he will give a more detailed description and 

 enlarged illustrations. 



Dr. Hauser has published* an interesting paper on the 

 olfactory organs of insects. He adopts the view of Lefebre and 

 Erichson, which I have also attempted to demonstrate,! that the 

 antennae of insects are organs of smell. There can, I think, be 

 no doubt that they do serve this function, but it is not incom- 

 patible that they should in other cases serve as organs of 

 hearing. Dr. Hauser describes in detail the minute pits which 

 have been already observed and figured by Hicks I and others, 

 and shows that each contains a central cone, which terminates 

 in a rod, and which, in some cases, as for instance in the wasp, 

 is itself obviously very complicated, and contains one or more series 

 of secondary rods. He lays much stress on the fact that insects 

 which depend on smell have their organs specially developed. 



Hermann Miiller continues his interesting and charming 

 series of papers in ' Kosmos,' which, if their relation is primarily 

 to the Botanist, have much bearing on Entomology also. He has 

 dwelt recently on the effect which the preponderance of Lepi- 

 doptera over bees in the higher regions has had in modifying the 



* Zeit. f. Wiss. Zool., 1880. 

 f Linnean Jom-nal, vol. xii. 

 J Trans, of Linu. Soc. 



