202 ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. [September, 



Chrysobothris femorata Fab.* He has also found the larvae of 

 Drasterias amabilis Lee. preying on locust eggs.f 



It will be observed that Dr. Riley's experiments were made 

 with larvae of other families, as the food, whilst with one excep- 

 tion, mine have been confined to the same as the devourer. The 

 larval stages of this family present an ample field for study as at 

 present comparatively little is known concerning them, a very- 

 grievous fact when their economic importance is taken into con- 

 sideration. 



For those who may wish to enter into a study of this family, 

 I would suggest a close perusal of the before-mentioned Bulletin 

 of the Cornell Station as well as the table of species to be found 

 in the Eighteenth Report of Prof S. A. Forbes, together with 

 the synoptic tables of the family by Drs. LeConte and Horn. 



Rank in the Heteroptera. — The common view that the aquatic 

 bugs are of lower rank than the Scutelleridae, etc. (see H. E. Summers, 

 p. 8i, Bull. Tenn. Exper. Station, July, 1891, vol. iv. No. 3), is not evident 

 from a study of their characters. In fact, the reverse of the present order 

 of succession of the families is the true gradation from the lower to the 

 higher. Thus, the large head of Corisa and Galgu/a, the modified an- 

 tennae, the reduced number of joints in the tarsi and beak, as well as in 

 the antennae, the reduced size of the membrane of the hemelytra and the 

 shorter abdomen, all indicate the high specialization and cephalization of 

 the families hitherto considered the lowest. The true succession of fami- 

 lies, from the lower to the higher, is Coreidae, Nabidae, Reduviidae, Phy- 

 matidae, Scutelleridae, Nepidse, Notonectidae. The large scutellum of 

 the water bugs and the position of the antennae show their relationship to 

 the Scutelleridae, the high rank of both being evident from the small num- 

 ber of segments in the abdomen (the above was penned several years 

 ago before the publication of Comstock's " Manual," where, p. 128, rec- 

 ognition is made of the high rank of the Scutelleridae and Hydrocorisa, 

 but without giving characters). — VV. H. Patton. 



The collection of native and foreign Lepidoptera made by the late Rev. 

 J. G. Morris, of Baltimore, Md., is for sale. According to Prof. Uhler 

 the collection is in very excellent condition. Many of the specimens were 

 collected and mounted by Dr. Morris, who, at the time of his death, was 

 probably the oldest entomologist in the United States. It would be a 

 pity for this collection to go to destruction for want of care, and it should 

 fall into the hands of some individual or institution where it would receive 

 the care it merits. 



* First Report U. S. Entomological Commission, page 304. 

 t American Entomologist, vol. iii, page 247. 



