378 • 



ferae (pines, tiis, etc.) were the chief forms duriug Mesozoic times. So 

 far the seed has beeu exposed. Now come the Augiosperms, iu which 

 the seed is protected iu the ovary or pericarp, and the Monocotyledons 

 (palms, sedges, etc.) precede the Dicotyledons, while of these last the 

 Apetalie, Polypetal*, and (xamopetake succeed each other in the order 

 of their naming. 



In brief, to use his own words, the development has been from the 

 simple to the complex; from the flowerless to the flowering; from the 

 endogenous to the exogenous; from the apetalous to the gamopetalous ; 

 and this succession corresponds to the best systems of classification of 

 existing forms. 



Both Cryptogams and Phsenogams began existence during the Silu- 

 rian, and there has been a race for supremacy ever since, with our pres- 

 ent flora as the result. It is also a fact of the greatest significance that 

 the same paleontological evidence which gives us this record also tells 

 us that there has been a corresponding develoi)ment of insect lite, from 

 the lower Neuroptera and Orthoptersi, which j)revailed iu the days when 

 Anemophilous plants reigned, to the higher Hymenoptera and Lepidop- 

 tera which appeared only as the higher flowering plants developed in 

 the Jurassic and Cretaceous. 



I do not hesitate in this connection to refer to another of Prof. Ward's 

 conclusions set forth in one of his interesting articles, namely, that most 

 of the higher flowering plants would speedily perish were insect aid 

 withdrawn, and that but for such aid in the past we should now be 

 without most of our gorgeous flora, and that insects have actually 

 paved the way for man's existence by the part they have played in the 

 development of fruit and nut bearing plants. 



A JJEW ICERYA PARASITE. 



By L. O. Howard. 



In the last number of Insect Life we announced the finding of 

 Icerya rosw Kiley & Howard (previously found only at Key West, 

 Fla.), upon the island of Jamaica, by Mr. T. D. A. Cockerell. Since 

 the publication of this note Mr. Cockerell has reared a parasite from 

 this species, which, in case it appears to be abundant, may well be 

 expected to feed ui^on allied species of this destructive genus. He 

 writes us under date of March 6, 1892 : 



Some weeks ago I put a few of the Icerya (females and larvse) iuto a o-lass-topped 

 box in the Museum for exhibition, without any of the plant or anything else. The 

 other day, on looking at them, I saw a dead winged insect at the bottom of the box, 

 and thought it must be a male Icerya, but on examination it proved to be a Chalcid 

 parasite. 



