49 



region, which is ou the borders of the Departments of the North and 

 the Aisne, and found that the insects occupied a plateau which had 

 recently been cleared of trees. The larv;ie marched in great liordes, 

 very much as the army worm [Leueania unipuncta) does in the United 

 States, or the antler moth {Charcvasgro minis) in northern Europe. Dr. 

 Marchal ascribes the exceptional multiplication of the species to the 

 unusually warm and dry season of 1893. The invasion was fought by 

 means of ditches dug in front of the advancing army of caterpillars, 

 large quantities of which were thus captured and carried ott' in sacks 

 by the peasants, who made compost of them with liquid manure. 

 Among the numerous insecticides tried sulphate of ammonia dihited 

 with liquid manure and sprinkled upon the infested spots was the only 

 one which gave satisfactory results. 



TAXONOMIC VALUE OF THE SCALES OF LEPIDOPTERA. 



In the Kansas University (Quarterly for July, 1894, Mr. Y. L. Kellogg 

 publishes an inq)ortant paper under the above title in which he gives 

 the results of investigations announced by Prof. J. II. Comstock, in his 

 paper on " Evolution and Taxonomy," which was reviewed in No. 3 of 

 the present volume of Insect Life. Mr. Kellogg has given us a very 

 careful resume of previous researches in regard to the structure and 

 oftice of the scales of Lepidoi)tera, and concludes that the most gener- 

 alized scale is the small hair without specialized insertion, while the 

 most specialized scale is the broadened toothed form with a pedicel and 

 a cup-shaped insertion on the surface of the wing. He ax)plies the prin- 

 ciple laid down by Comstock in his consideration of venation and shape 

 of wing, and finds that his results coincide practically with the taxo- 

 nomic conclusions reached by Prof. Comstock. The suborder JugatiB 

 is confirmed by his researches, since he finds upon the wings of Microp- 

 teryx and Hepialus, in addition to numerous specialized scales, a cov- 

 ering of very fine hairs differing radically from the scales in size, 

 arrangement, and mode of attachment to the membrane, and agreeing 

 essentially with the fixed hairs of the Trichoptera. These hairs are 

 absent in the insects of the suborder Frenatne. The high specialization 

 of the true scales in the Jugatie he considers does not indicate a high 

 rank for these insects, but is merely corroborative of the presumption 

 that they are the existing tips of branches whose lower members have 

 disappeared. He believes that the stem form of Lepidoptera possessed 

 wing-clothing much like that now exhibited by the Trichoptera and 

 that the Jngata? branched oft" before the covering of fine hairs had been 

 lost, althongh the tendency to specialization had become already mani- 

 fest. He discusses further the color of the scales and their peculiar 

 difi'erentiations, including specializations into androconia, applying his 

 conclusions taxonomically in connection with Prof. Comstock's discov- 

 eries. The details of his examinations of the insects of several families 

 follow. A somewhat confusing statement is made upon page 77, where 



