280 
Oligarces behaves somewhat differently. A 
number of larve, probably mostly mother 
larvee, containing embryos were found in elm 
bark March 18, 1911. This material was kept 
in a warm room, and a week later the interior 
of the jars literally swarmed with thousands 
of active, whitish maggots with here and there 
a yellowish or yellowish-transparent one. 
Many of these perished upon the walls of the 
jar, and even those confined between a piece of 
glass and decaying elm bark soon succumbed. 
In spite of this a pupa was found April 19 
and adults obtained about a week later. These 
small, white larve mentioned above differed 
from typical Miastor larve and some, at least, 
evidently established themselves in the crey- 
ices of the bark, transforming to pups, and 
these in turn worked out to the free surface 
a day or so before the disclosure of the imago. 
These pups appeared to move more readily 
than those of Muiastor, and in several in- 
stances were observed standing upon the moist 
surface of the bark, supported only by the 
somewhat mucilaginous posterior extremity. 
Natural Hnemies—Both Miastor and Oli- 
garces larve are subject to attack by several 
predaceous Dipterous larve occurring in simi- 
lar situations. The pinkish larve of Lesto- 
diplosis, resembling in a general way those of 
Miastor except for a difference in color and 
more slender structure, may be seen here and 
there among their prey, and in the case of 
populous clusters of white Mzastor larve, may 
give an ornamental touch to the colony. 
Itomda pugionis Felt may also prey on 
Miastor. Two larger predaceous maggots, 
those of Lonchea polita Loew and a species of 
Medeterus are commonly found in the vicin- 
ity of Miastor colonies, and it not infrequently 
happens that they are the only available evi- 
dence of the earlier occurrence of Miastor. 
The larve of these two latter are voracious 
forms and are undoubtedly responsible for the 
speedy destruction of many Miastor colonies. 
The finding of these predaceous larve may 
serve aS a guide to the searcher for Miastor 
and suggests investigating the more inac- 
eessible portions of the bark for colonies which 
may have escaped the predaceous maggots. 
EK. P. Fer 
SCIENCE 
[N.S. Vou. KXXV. No. 894 
SPURRED FLOWERS IN CALCEOLARIA 
THE genus Calceolaria, often popularly 
ealled slipperwort, belongs to the Scrophu- 
lariacee. It may be divided into two sec- 
tions; first, the herbaceous kind, the one usu- 
ally employed by florists in this country; 
second, the shrubby and bedding kinds. 
The herbaceous kinds are grown from seeds. 
When well grown they are very ornamental 
and serve to decorate the greenhouse in spring, 
when other plants are through blooming. 
The shrubby kinds are serviceable to some 
extent for indoor decoration. They are ex- 
tensively grown in Britain for bedding pur- 
poses. Owing to the American summers being 
so hot, they are unsuited for bedding pur- 
poses here. They are mostly raised from 
cuttings. 
A little more than a year ago some crossing 
experiments were conducted by a student in 
one of the regular undergraduate courses, No. 
6, in the department of botany. This course 
was in charge of Professor Geo. F. Atkinson 
and Mr. Robert Shore, the head gardener of 
the department. The student, Miss Margaret 
C. Graham, performed the experiments under 
the supervision of Mr. Shore. Since, in public 
lectures, several unauthorized references have 
been made to these spurred calceolarias, it 
seems desirable to place on record the prin- 
cipal facts in connection with the experi- 
ments, and to state that the work is still in 
progress by Professor Atkinson and Mr. Shore. 
A shrubby plant was crossed with a her- 
baceous one. This gave plants of a stronger 
growth, more profuse bloomers, more com- 
pact and more ornamental. Some of these 
varieties can be propagated from cuttings. 
These hybrids have been recrossed and the 
offspring have produced an interesting variety 
in habit of plants and variation of flowers. 
Some of the varieties have a number of 
spurred flowers, one or two spurs on the label- 
lum. These spurred varieties have been cross 
pollinated and self pollinated, and varieties 
raised from these seeds have produced several 
spurred flowers. Gro. F. Atkinson 
Rost, SHORE 
DEPARTMENT OF BOTANY, 
CORNELL UNIVERSITY 
