Ixvii 



•which he has endeavoured to show that the sound is caused by 

 the rushing out of the air from a small cavity within the head 

 near the base of the short tongue, through a small orifice furnished 

 with strong muscles. 



Several instances of insect monstrosities have been described 

 during the past year, varying in the extent of their malformation. 

 These have occurred in Acronycta leporina (Bond, in Trans. Ent. 

 Soc. 1872, p. x), in Spilosoma sordida (by Guenee, noticed in 

 ditto, p. xxvi.), in the veins of the wings of various Lepidoptera 

 (by the Eev. R. P. Murray, in ditto, p. xxxiii.), and in the antennae 

 of Hydroporus (by Lawson, in the Entom. M. Mag. viii. p. 289). 

 A curious observation on the development of dark varieties of 

 Tephrosia crepuscularia has been recorded by Mr. J. T. Llewelyn, 

 in the Entom. Monthly Mag. (vol. viii. p. 272). 



A remarkable memoir, with the title ' Ueber Polygamie und 

 anderweitige Geschlechtsverhaltnisse bei Orthopteren,' appears 

 in the Zool. & Bot. Ver., Vienna, 1871. The observations are 

 made upon Gryllus campestris, between a pair of which he ob- 

 served eight acts of copulation, extending from the 10th May to 

 the 11th June, and Pezotettix pedestris, in which he observed 

 one male in successive copulation with four females. 



Several instances have lately been brought to our notice in 

 which two male insects were simultaneously found in copula with 

 a single female (Dale, in Ent. M. Mag. ix. 46, and Miiller, in 

 ditto, ix. 120). 



Geographical Distribution of Insects. 

 The geographical distribution of insects is a subject of very wide 

 extent, and has attracted our attention at several of our meetings 

 during the past year. On this head I may refer concisely to 

 Mr. Bates's remarks on the Carabidse of Northern Asia (Trans. 

 Ent. Soc. p. viii.), to those of Mr. Smith on the Hymenoptera of 

 Japan (ib., p. xx), and to those of Mr. Wollaston on the local 

 distribution of species of Coleoptera (in the Ent. M. M., July, 1872, 

 p. 32). I may alsq here refer to the account of a remarkable flight 

 of Cynthia Cardui given in the last-named work (vol. ix. p. 149). 

 The singular appearance of great numbers of specimens of 

 Vanessa Antiopa during the last season has been alluded to in all 

 our publications, and has caused considerable discussion ; whilst, 

 on the other hand, two remarkable instances of the sudden 



