170 Miscellaneous. 



Up to this point tho author reared the larvae in small glass tubes 

 like thimbles, corked and turned bottom upwards ; and it was upon 

 the surface of tho cork that the above changes took place. He now 

 employed a glass tube about 4 inches long and 1 inch in diameter, 

 stopped at the bottom with a piece of sponge, and filled with earth, 

 upon which he placed the Scarabasoid larva (as lliley has called the 

 same stage in Epicauta). The larva immediately buried itself and 

 formed, a little above the sponge, against the wall of tho tube, a 

 small chamber or cavity. Iu five da} r s more a fresh change of skin 

 took place, producing a pupa like that of a Muscide, having four 

 small inaruillce at the apex, and three pairs of small marailke at 

 tho part where the legs were. Its colour is horny white ; and it is 

 motionless, looking exactly like a chrysalis. This state lasts 

 through the winter, the only sign of life being tho issuing from its 

 pores, from time to time, of a transparent colourless liquid, which 

 remains for some days at the surface of the body. 



On the 15th April this pupa burst its envelope, and gave issue to 

 a white grub, very like the Scarabaeoid larva, but without its robust 

 claws and jaws, only presenting rudimentary feet, each composed of 

 three short and thick pieces. This grub moves slowly in its cell, 

 but does not go out of it or eat. On the 30th April there is a 

 fresh change, producing a nympha of the regular coleopterous typo, 

 having all the limbs recognizable. It is at first white, but soon 

 becomes coloured; on the 17th May it was already very dark; and 

 on the 19th the beetle was visiblo in the cell ready to make its ap- 

 pearance. The complete development of the insect thus occupies a 

 year. The author believes that in nature the insect preys upon 

 burrowing bees, such as Halictus and Andrena. — Comptes Rend us, 

 May 26, 1879, p. 10S9. 



On the Systematic Position of the Volvocinece, and on the Limits of the 

 Vegetable and Animal Kingdoms. By M. E. Matjpas. 



Since the publication of tho memoirs of F. Colin upon the Volvo- 

 cineoe, it seemed that the old debates respecting the systematic posi- 

 tion of those Microphytes were closed for ever. Every one, in fact, 

 had adopted the opinions of this naturalist ; and in all the general 

 treatises tho Volvocineas are arranged with tho Alga). Stein, in his 

 fine volumes recently published upon tho Elagellate Infusoria, recurs 

 to the old view of Ehrcnbcrg, and reclaims the Volvocineoe for tho 

 animal kingdom, placing them among the Infusoria. As this ques- 

 tion affects important problems of cellular morphology and goes to 

 the very heart of the controversy on the limits of the two organic 

 kingdoms, I have thought it useful to make known to the Academy 

 some observations and considerations opposed to tho conclusions of 

 the learned professor of Prague. 



With Stein, the true criterion which enables a Protozoon to be 

 distinguished from a Protophytc is the simultaneous prcsenco of 

 vibratile cilia or flagella, of contractile vacuoles, and of a nucleus 

 in one and the same creature. The Protozoa alone, according to 

 him, combine these three organs ; no well-characterized plant pos- 



