394 Miscellaneous. 



at any conclusiou as ix) whether his species is a lirimary or secondary 

 parasite of the Hessian fly. 



SemiotcUus (?) nigripes is a form which does not appear to have 

 its representative in North America. It has a strong green, or 

 sometimes blue, metallic lustre, the antennae and legs black, the 

 latter with greenish lustre, the tarsi pale yellow at the base. Length 

 2 millim. The species is widely distributed in llussia. It appears 

 to be single-brooded, emerging in July and August. 



Eupchnus Karschii is black with a green or blue lustre ; antennae 

 black ; legs yellow, with the tips of the femora and tibiae and the last 

 joint of the tarsi black. In the female the fore legs are entirely 

 yellow. Length under 2 millim. The American species is recorded 

 by Riley as a parasite of Isosoma hordei and /. tritici. 



Platygaster minutus. — Length k millim. Black, shining, but with 

 no metallic lustre. Legs yellow, with black femora, and the poste- 

 rior tibiae black ; wings large, extendiug far beyond the tip of the 

 abdomen, veinless, but hairy ; femora much thickened in the middle, 

 tibiae in their lower half. The species seems to be abundant. The 

 author regards it, as also the much larger American P. Ilerrickii, as 

 a direct parasite of the larva of the Hessian fly, and not as parasitic 

 in the egg ; he always reared it from the puparia, and obtained from 

 four to eleven individuals from a single puparium. 



Euryscupus saltator is wingless, black, with a green lustre on the 

 head and thorax, and frequently a brownish spot on each side of the 

 mesonotum. Abdomen black with a faint greenish lustre ; legs 

 yellow, with the femora, the middle of the tibiae, and the tips of 

 the tarsi rather darker ; first segment of the abdomen reddish 

 brown ; ovipositor yellow with the tip black ; scape yellowish 

 brown ; flagellum black or dark brown, with a greenish lustre on 

 the first two joints. Length 2 millim. The author has bred this 

 species from puparia of the Hessian fly and also from galls of Iso- 

 soma liordei, but it does not seem to be abundant, 



A single specimen of a seventh species has been obtained by the 

 author. It appears to be a Flaii/gaster of about the same size as 

 the one already noticed, black, with yellow legs and brown antennae, 

 which have a large black club ; the wings are as in Platygaster. — 

 Bull. Soc. Imp. Nat. Moscou, 1887, no. 1, pp. 178-192. 



On the Power of Multiplication of the Infusoria Ciliata. 

 By M. E. Maupas. 



The author notes that the power of multiplication of the Ciliata 

 depends upon three factors, namely: — 1, the quality and abundance 

 of food ; 2, temperature ; 3, the biological adaptation of each 

 species as regards alimentation. The tliird factor alone varies for 

 each type, the organization of the buccal apparatus determining the 

 kind of food necessary, and rendering the animalcules herbivorous, 

 carnivorous, or omnivoroiis. 



Crypjtochilum, Parayna'cium, Colpoda, Tillina, Colpidium, and the 

 Vorticellidae are herbivorous, living almost exclusively upon Schizo- 

 mycetes and small zoospores. These Infusoria are great purifiers of 



