114 ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. [April, '06 



— the acid and alkali-eliminating organs (distinguished re- 

 spectively by their ability to take up carmine, or indigo-car- 

 mine) are united into one. Thus we have the urinary tubules 

 and the Malpighian corpuscles in the kidney of the Verte- 

 brates ; the urinary canals and the peripheral saccules in the 

 decapod Crustaceans ; the pericardial glands and the organs 

 of Bojanus in the Lamellibranchs. In the insects, however, 

 we have these organs, represented respectively by the pericar- 

 dial cells and the Malpighian tubes, entirely separate. Kowa- 

 levsky concludes that "there thus results a certain physio- 

 logical attraction between the organs, which leads to the pene- 

 tration of the Malpighian tubes into the region occupied by 

 the acid-eliminating part of the kidney, that is to say, into 

 the region of the pericardial cells. ' ' 



I have studied a number of series of adults of Melanoplus 

 femoratus and of both adults and nymphs of Melanoplus femur- 

 rubrum but have observed the phenomenon in only the one 

 individual. In addition, I have examined series of Chorto- 

 phaga (nymph and adult), Qicanthus, Gryllus, and Blatta, but 

 have met with no further instance. The Orthoptera possess 

 from thirty to a hundred and fifty Malpighian tubes and yet 

 of all these Kowalevsky found but a single one within the 

 heart of any individual. If we have in the phenomenon a 

 perfectly normal case of physiological attraction, why does it 

 affect but a single tube, or how account for the fact that it has 

 never been observed in any other order of insects? The con- 

 dition is an interesting one, but the evidence certainly goes to 

 show that it is a purely accidental one. Whether it is merely 

 mechanical, brought about by the movements of the insect, or 

 whether it is an abnormal method of growth, is a question. 



Notes on Caenocara Oculata Say. 



By C. O. Houghton, Newark, Del. 



In his "Revision of the Ptinidae of Boreal America," recently 



published, Mr. H. C. Fall writes, in part, of the genus Ctsno- 



cara as follows : "The species of this genus, or at least some of 



them, are known to pass the larval state "in puff balls (Lyco- 



