THE AMERICAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



175 



found to be in very different states of de- 

 velopment, I could not ascertain each suc- 

 cessive stage accurately ; but I have made 

 drawings of many of the different states, 

 which I may at some future time use if I 

 can succeed in determining the species. 



Through the vigorous efforts of the 

 larva, when ready to hatch, the membran- 

 ous covering of the yelk ruptures longitu- 

 dinally, its edges curling inward, and the 

 insect emerges limp and apparently life- 

 less, and lies for some time nearly motion- 

 less (in the state shown in Fig. 79, a) in the 

 surrounding gelatine. Gaining strength, 

 however, it makes its way out of the mass 

 and begins to swim actively about (Fig. 



79> ^)- 



This whole development closely resem- 

 bles that of a species of Diplax as studied 



[Fig. 80.] 



Head-parts of Diplax (?) Larva : a, base or pedicel of la- 

 bium J ^, mandible ; c, rf, labial palpi ; _/", same as r ; tf, ligula ? ; 

 g^ second maxillae or labium (after Gerard). 



by Prof. Packard, and figured and de- 

 scribed in his " Guide to the Study of 

 Insects " ; and it is quite likely that the 

 eggs and larva which I have described be- 

 long to some species of that, or some closely 

 allied genus. I am led to this conclusion 

 from the structure of the mouth-parts, and 

 the presence of the formidable mask (Fig. 

 80, a), which is peculiar to the young 

 of the Dragon-fly. My efforts to rear the 

 larvae were unsuccessful, and I succeeded 

 in keeping them alive for about a week 

 only, probably from my ignorance of their 

 habits and of the food necessary to them. 



Fertilizers of Alpine Flowers. — 

 Mr. Hermann Miiller of Lippstadt, Ger- 

 many, stated some years ago in Nature, 

 that the Lepidoptera are far more frequent 

 visitors and fertilizers of flowers in the 

 Alps than in the lower land, and that from 



this cause in the former locality more 

 flowers are adapted to cross-fertilization by 

 Lepidoptera than in the latter. In the 

 same periodical (No. 534, Jan. 22, 1S80, 

 p. 275) he gives now, as corroborating his 

 statement and as a preliminary result of 

 observations continued through si.\ sum- 

 mers, a table showing the number of visits 

 of insects to flowers, observed by himself 

 and arranged according to the different 

 species of insects and different species of 

 plants, in the Alps, compared with such 

 visits in the lower land. A second table 

 which we reproduce herewith shows the 

 proportion of insects in different orders 

 and at different altitudes, out of 1000 

 different visits of insects to flowers (differ- 

 ing either by the species of flower or by the 

 species of insect): 



The great preponderance of such visits 

 of the Lepidoptera in the Alps, and es- 

 pecially above the timber line, is quite 

 striking. 



Economic Entomology in the pub- 

 lic SCHOOLS. — The only way to bring this 

 practical science to agricultural minds 

 generally, to the class with whom it is of 

 greatest importance, is, to require that 

 it be taught in all the public schools. 

 It is a kind of knowledge which the young 

 country student grasps easily and success- 

 fully when deprived of its unessential tech- 

 nicalities. Of such practical consequence 

 is it that it had better be taught even at 

 the expense of almost any other study of 

 the usual courses, and some attention to it 

 would be a great relief from unnecessary 

 problems in abstractions which are often 

 inflicted to a useless extent in early 

 training. 



It is a sad consequence of the failure to 

 teach natural science in the public schools 

 that our cultivators do not recognize their 



