Sept., '04] ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. 255 



Entomological Literature. 



Recent Literature.— Our knowledge of the muscle development of 

 the Coleoptera has received a valuable addition in a recent paper ("'The 

 Changes which occur in the Muscles of a Beetle, 7 hymalus marginicollis 

 Chevr., during Metamorphosis," Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool. Harvard, xl, 

 pp. 317-380, Pis. 7) by R. S. Breed of Harvard University, in which he 

 gives a very minute account of the anatomical and histological changes 

 which occur in the individual muscles of a beetle during metamorphosis. 

 As the metathorax proved to be the most suitable segment for study, its 

 muscles received the most careful examination. Some twenty-five mus- 

 cles in this region are enumerated and the changes of each considered 

 separately, as it was found that all do not undergo a similar metamor- 

 phosis. Of this number not a single one persists unaltered from the 

 larva ; the greater proportion undergo a metamorphosis, while a number 

 of the larval muscles degenerate. Only two of the imaginal nietathoracic 

 muscles are of entirely new formation in the pupa. The only region of 

 the body in which any of the muscles were found to persist unaltered 

 from larva to adult is in the abdomen. This is to be expected, as the 

 abdomen shows the least amount of external change during metamor- 

 phosis and contrasts with the thorax where a great amount of external 

 remodeling is correlated with a radical change in the musculature. In 

 the legs all of the imaginal muscles appear to be formed by a metamor- 

 phosis of the larval ones. The trend of recent opinion with regard to 

 phagocytosis in the Coleoptera is upheld, as no evidences of this phe- 

 nomenon were observed in any of the muscles of Thyviahis, all degen-- 

 eration changes being apparently of a chemical nature. The author 

 believes that in Coleoptera the cells that have been described as phago- 

 cytes are in reality tracheal cells developed from the tracheoles of larval 

 muscles. C. T. B. 



Prof, and Mrs. T. D. A. Cockerell spent the summer in Europe. 

 This month they go to the University of Coloiado, at Boulder, to teach 

 biology. Prof. Cockerell will have a research laboratory in the University. 



Please take notice that after June 15th my address for packages as 

 well as usual mail will be : C. F. Baker, Estacion Agronomica, Santiago 

 de las Vegas, near Habana, Cuba. 



A VERY good substitute for cork for micro double mounts is to take a 

 piece of soft felt, dampen it, and put a good quantity of photopaste on 

 both sides, cover with white paper, press well, and dry. Then cut long, 

 narrow strips with paper-cutter (any printer will do this for you if you 

 haven't a cutter), and straighten the strips. When you are convinced 

 the felt is thoroughly dry, cut your strips in desired lengths for pins. The 

 strips can be cut very slender, are neat and also economical, as any old 

 soft felt hat can be used for the purpose. In pushing your label pin 

 through, give support to the felt, and with minutien pins use your plyers. 

 Mrs. F. Weigand of Philadelphia suggested the idea, and it is practi- 

 cal.— H. HORNIG. 



