344 ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. [DcC. , '04 



Notes and. News. 



ENTOMOLOGICAL GLEANINGS FROM ALL QUARTERS 

 OF THE GLOBE. 



Prof. Levi W. Mengel has submitted to me a moth and a butterfly 

 new to the fauna of the United States : — Aniblyscirtes elissa Godman & 

 Salvin, Biol. Cent.-Am., Tab. 95, fig. 40 9> fig- 4i cJ', Mexico ; Cochise 

 Co., Arizona, Biederman ; Melanchroia fnonticola Schaus, Ent. Amer., 

 5, 192, 1889, Las Vigas, Mexico, Biol. Cent.-Am., Het., 2, 408, pi. 73, f. 

 33. 34 \ Reef, Cochise Co , Arizona, August 29, 1904, Biederman. — 

 Henry Skinner. 



On the method of "oaring" in VVaterbugs (Hemiptera). — In 

 "Half-hours with Insects,"* p. 158, Packard writes: "In this insect (i. 

 e., Notonecta), as well as in Corixa, as Schiodte observes, the hind legs 

 are moved both together, as in Dytiscus. In Belosioina, and probably 

 Ra7iatra, they are moved alternately." Notes on the habits of waterbugs 

 have been few and obvious, though the American forms at least are being 

 zealously investigated by my friend Mr. Bueno. 



Ranatra and Nepa are crawlers, slow and deliberate, over the bottom 

 of pond or lake, or cling to the submerged parts of aquatic plants ; even 

 when moving through the water, their gait is rather a kind of paddling. 

 Belosioma, on the other hand, has good serviceable oars (though not so 

 remarkably modified for that purpose as in Notonecta), and alternate 

 movements of the legs would produce much the same effect as that of a 

 tyro rowing crew heedless of " time." 



I have never seen any of the Belostomidcs alive ; but I am sure, from 

 an examination of their structure, that Packard's statement is incorrect. 

 Unfortunately, the giant race has not yet reached these peaceful shores. 

 My position in the matter is somewhat like that of Pooh-Bah. As a lover 

 of waterbugs I would welcome them with open arms ; as a professional 

 economic entomologist, it would undoubtedly be my dolorous duty to 

 exterminate them. G. W. Kirkaldv. 



Honolulu, H. I., June 14, 1904. 



Epipvrops'barberiana Dyar.— Recently Mr. Carl Hartman, of Austin. 

 Texas, sent me a letter, accompanied by three specimens of Epipyrops 

 barberiana, one male and two females, and a specimen of a Fulgorid, 

 Ormenis pruinosa Say. Mr. Hartman in his letter says : 



" There is a close social relation between the moths and the wax-pro- 

 ducing Fulgorid. The latter insect carries under the left wing the mass 

 of wax, or rather the waxen sac (several of which I send you) until 

 ready to deposit the same. The lantern-fly lives, it seems, on the cedar 

 bushes of this vicinity, and it is on them that the waxen sacs are almost 

 exclusively found. The wax, when the sac is deposited, is soft and 

 sticky, and can be drawn out into microscopically fine threads, a foot or 



"Half-hour Recreations in Natural History," Div. I, pt. 5— Insects of the Pond and 

 Stream. (No date=i874-5). 



