December 28, 1906.] 



SCIENCE, 



867 



period is shorter and there is a scarcity of 

 pigment at emergence, resulting in a more or 

 less albinic specimen. Insufficience of the 

 normal food will produce the same result. 

 On the contrary, abundant and rich food 

 shortens larval life, lengthening the pupal 

 period, so that there is an abundance of pig- 

 ment, and a highly colored or melanic speci- 

 men appears at emergence. Color varieties of 

 larvge are often associated, but not always, 

 with color varieties of the adults. Some 

 caterpillars feeding on the same food may be 

 either brown or green. The development of 

 secondary sexual characters is also influenced 

 by the kind and abundance of food. He finds 

 that the size of the adult is proportioned to 

 the size of the caterpillar; and that males 

 vary more than females. Varieties produced 

 by feeding increase in intensity and distinct- 

 ness at each generation on the same food; 

 however, there is always some tendency to re- 

 vert to the normal form. Humidity in larval 

 life is a partial factor in melanism, but much 

 depends upon the temperature of the hu- 

 midity and the time of its application. In 

 some eases of cold humidity paler and more 

 spotted forms were produced in a rather dark 

 butterfly. The variation from humidity ap- 

 pears mostly on the front wings, and melanism 

 usually starts along veins. Four fine plates 

 illustrate the results of his experiments. 



Dr. O. M. Renter has presented an im- 

 portant work on the classification of the 

 Hemipterous family Capsidse.^ The author, 

 who has spent much of his life studying this 

 one family, gives a long historical, critical 

 and constructive account of the classification 

 of these plant-bugs. He devotes considerable 

 attention to a criticism of Mr. Distant's work 

 on this family. After an examination of the 

 structures most useful for genera and higher 

 groups, he divides the family into twenty 

 ' divisions,' or tribes, an elaboration of his 

 previous classification, in the 'Hemiptera 

 Gymnocerata Europsea.' He finds the best 

 characters for the divisions in the pronotal 

 carina, the cell of the wing-membrane, the 

 tarsal joints, and especially in the arolia of 



*'Die Klassifikation der Capsiden,' Festschrift 

 filr Palmen, No. 1, Helsingfors, 1906. 



the claws. Genera are based largely on shape 

 of the head and the antennae. Following this 

 there is a phylogeny of the family, and a 

 ' tree ' to illustrate his views. 



Dr. Walter Rothschild and Karl Jordan 

 have published a revision of the American 

 swallow-tail butterfiies.' It is based on the 

 collections in the Tring Museum and that of 

 Oberthiir. Full references and synonomy are 

 given for all species and varieties. There are 

 descriptions of some new species and many 

 new subspecies, mostly from Soiith America 

 and the West Indies. Three new names are 

 given to forms from the United States: P. 

 ihoas subsp. autocles from Texas; P. glaucus 

 subsp. canadensis from Canada and New- 

 foundland; and P. marcellus subsp. lecontei, 

 from various parts of the United States, to 

 replace the P. ajax marcellus of Edwards, the 

 true marcellus applying to the P. ajax walshi 

 of Edwards. 



The second report of the Wellcome Research 

 Laboratories at the Gordon Memorial College, 

 Khartoum, Egypt, 1906, contains a number of 

 interesting papers. Theobald makes an addi- 

 tional report on the mosquitoes of the Sudan. 

 He gives also notes on the ' maggot fly ' (Ben- 

 galia depressa), the larvae of which live under 

 the skin of man, and other animals ; also notes 

 on the ' Congo-floor-maggot ' (Auchmeromyia 

 luteola), the larvae of which crawl at night 

 from crevices in the floor to suck blood from 

 sleeping persons. He also gives notes on some 

 stingless bees, a new pupiparous fly from the 

 ibex, some Sudanese Hippoboscidae, a melon 

 fruit-fly (Dacus sp.), and on the Dura plant- 

 bug (LygcBv^ militaris). Mr. E. E. Austen 

 treats of several blood-sucking Diptera, de- 

 scribes two new species of Tabanidae, and 

 gives notes on various other species. 



A little-known phase of entomology is 

 touched by K. Leinemann in his article on the 

 number of facets in the eyes of insects.* He 



* ' A revision of the American Papilios,' Novi- 

 tates Zool, XIII., pp. 431-752, 6 plates, 1906. 



* ' iJber die Zahl der Facetten in den zusammen- 

 gesetzten Augen der Coleopteren,' Dissertation, 

 Munster, 1905, pp. 64. 



