Apeil 23, 1915] 



SCIENCE 



615 



latter requiring special modifications of the 

 mouth parts. Several species are sap-feeders 

 when young, and in later stages become tissue 

 feeders. 



The first impulse, upon finding some strange 

 new form of insect, seems expressible only in 

 a new ordinal name. Dr. Silvestri has found 

 some small forms (2 mm. long) in Africa and 

 Malasia representing the newest order of in- 

 sects, Zoraptera.^ The genus Zorotypus is 

 based upon several species resembling young 

 Gryllidse. They have enlarged hind femora, 

 two jointed tarsi, head with distinct T mark, 

 no eyes, last joint of palpi enlarged, nine- 

 jointed antennae, and short one-jointed cerci. 



It is indeed refreshing to find a paper on the 

 systematics of Culicidse that contains no new 

 generic names. Mr. E. Brunnetti^ has studied 

 the proposed genera of mosquitoes from the 

 standpoint of the dipterologist and comes to 

 the conclusion of Dr. Williston that most of 

 these names are based on characters of no 

 generic value in Diptera, and are therefore 

 synonyms. Under Gulex he places no less than 

 72 such names. The value of the various char- 

 acters is considered, and tables are given to 

 the vaild genera; some names, however, still 

 left in doubt. Corethra is regarded as form- 

 ing a subfamily in the Culicidse. 



We all know that an insect " bite " is not 

 simply a puncture, but our first interest has 

 been to find a remedy. Dr. J. H. Stokes' 

 however, has investigated the pathological and 

 histological features of a " bite " and con- 

 cludes, that, irrespective of pathogenic organ- 

 isms, the insect introduces a toxic agent which 

 produces considerable changes in the tissues 

 near the " bite." This toxic agent is not in- 

 jured by alcohol nor by dry heat, but is inert 

 after treatment with hydrochloric acid. The 

 history of a " bite " is divided into four 



6 ' ' Descrizione di un nuovo ordine di insetti, ' ' 

 Bol. Lai. Zool. Gen. Agrar., VII., pp. 193-209, 

 1914. 



7 "Critical Eeview of 'Genera' in Culicidfe, " 

 JJec. Ind. Mus., X., pp. 15-79, 1914. 



8 " A Clinical, Pathological and Experimental 

 Study of Lesions Produced by the Bite of the 

 Black Ply (SimicUum venustum)," Jour. Cutan 

 Diseases, November and December, 1914, pp. 46. 



stages; the papular, the pseudovesieular, the 

 vesicular or oozing stage, and the involution 

 or subsidence. 



N. Banks 



SPECIAL ASTICLES 



A CASE OF ASSUMPTION OF MALE SECONDARY SEX 

 CHARACTERS BY A COW ^ 



A PUKE-BRED registered Ayrshire cow, named 

 Dorothy of Orono (23010), belonging to the 

 University of Maine, produced three calves, 

 on dates as follows: September lY, 1909, Sep- 

 tember 10, 1910, February 24, 1912. On the 

 lactation following the birth of the second calf 

 she made a record of 12,426.4 lbs of milk and 

 450.75 lbs. of fat, and was admitted as No. 426 

 to the Ayrshire Advanced Eegistry. 



After March 24, 1913, the cow never gave 

 any milk. The udder rapidly shrunk to a very 

 small size and the animal began to show the 

 external characteristics of a bull. This change 

 was very slight at first, but soon became much 

 more marked. After a lapse of 8 months the 

 general external fades and the lehavior of the 

 cow were like those of a hull to a remarkable 

 degree. The neck had become thickened in its 

 posterior parts, and had developed a well- 

 marked crest, as is characteristic of a bull. If 

 the cow had been so screened that only her 

 fore-quarters and neck were visible, any ob- 

 server would have unquestionably pronounced 

 her a male. The assumption of male characters 

 in these regions was complete and perfect. In 

 the hind-quarters the change from character- 

 istic female conformation in the male direc- 

 tion, while less striking than in the anterior 

 parts, was still clearly evident. The udder 

 shrunk away to a very small size. The hips 

 and rump took on the smooth, rounded, filled- 

 out appearance which is characteristic of the 

 bull, but not of the cow. 



The cow was slaughtered on February 18, 

 1914. Autopsy showed as the only gross ab- 



1 This is a preliminary abstract of a paper hav- 

 ing the title "Sex Studies. VII. On the As- 

 sumption of Male Secondary Characters by a Cow 

 Affected with Cystic Degeneration of the Ovaries, ' ' 

 shortly to be published in the Annual Report of 

 the Maine Agr. Expt. Sta. for 1915. 



