THE AMERICAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



199 



Campodea fragilis Meinert. — This lit- 

 tle animal, described in the Annals and 

 Magazine of Nat. H., 1867, p. 377, and 

 " frequent in the neighborhood of Copen- 

 hagen, in moist black earth, under stones, 

 etc.," exists here at Ithaca, N. Y., where I 

 have found it (June 8, 1880) in damp sandy 

 earth. Meinert says, " It lives, at least 

 partly, on dead insects, as I have often 

 found in its stomach scales of butterflies 

 and other remains of insects, which it could 

 not have attacked or overcome alive" (/. c). 

 Lubbock's Monograph of the CoUetnbola 

 and Thysanura gives us nothing additional, 

 and I doubt if it has been observed in 

 America before. Since this genus is re- 

 garded by some as the connecting link 

 between the Myriapoda and the Insecta pro- 



[Fig. 104.] 



[Fig. 105.] 



Degeeria lanugi- 

 nosa (after Barnard). 



Campodea fragilis 

 (after Barnard). 



per, and as representing the original stock 

 (see Lubbock, Origin and Metamorphoses of 

 Insects), from which all the orders of insects 

 have been derived, its species have an un- 

 common interest like that of the Ainceba 

 or of Amphioxus. These creatures possess 

 only the most essential marks of insects, 

 and are especially peculiar by having the 

 chewing organs in a mouth-cavity, while 

 they have no metamorphosis and do not 

 develop eyes or wings. Their habitats are 

 obscure, and their habits difficult to study, 

 yet we hope to learn more anon. Closely 

 related to this is Dcgccria lanuginosa, 

 Nicolet, the " Spring- tail " so common in 

 European gardens (" Dans les jardins, sur 

 la terre ; assez commun." — Nicolet), which 



I find plentiful in our gardens here. — W. 

 S. Barnard, Ithaca, N. Y. 



Every Coleopterist appreciates the value 

 of Harold and Gemminger's " Catalogus 

 Coleopterorum hucusque descriptorum," an 

 admirable work, which is as perfect as 

 works of this character well can be. In 

 consequence of the great activity in de- 

 scriptive coleopterology, the work soon 

 became incomplete, because of the many 

 species described subsequent to its pub- 

 lication. Baron von Harold himself does 

 not contemplate publishing a new edition 

 of this work ; nor is it likely that any 

 other coleopterist will be willing to take 

 upon himself the difficult and laborious 

 task of completing and preparing a new 

 edition. But this work might be done by 

 the cooperation of specialists, and we are 

 glad to see that M. E. Candeze, the well- 

 known author of the Monographic des Elate- 

 ridcs, is publishing, in the Comptes-rctidus 

 des Seances de la Societc' entomologique de 

 Belgique of this year, z.'''' Liste des Elate- 

 rides decrits postc'rieurement au Catalogue de 

 Munich,'' thus bringing the catalogue up to 

 date in at least one family. It is to be 

 hoped that other competent specialists will 

 follow his example. 



Parasitic Rove-beetle : Aleochara 

 ANTHOMYi^, Sprague. — This beetle, de- 

 scribed in the American Entomologist II, 

 370, as developing in, and bred from, the 

 pupcX of the Cabbage-fly {Anthomyia bras- 

 sicce), is now very abundant at Ithaca, 

 N. Y. Since the description of this new 

 species and its astonishing parasitic habits, 

 nothing concerning it has come to my 

 notice. As my beetles are twice as large 

 as those described, I think the original 

 measurement may possibly have been made 

 from specimens shrunk in alcohol. They 

 are often seen running from one young 

 cabbage to another, or entering holes, but 

 more commonly close about the stalk. 

 Half of our young cabbages here, last year 

 and this, have been killed by the maggots, 

 and now on pulling up an infested stalk, 

 these beetles often come out, sometimes 



