July 25, 1902.] 



SCIENCE. 



155 



caying vegetable matter that it finds in the 

 nest, and enlarges its case by using its excre- 

 ment to solder bits of dirt together. When 

 ready to piipate, it fastens the case to a piece 

 of wood or twig, and turns completely around, 

 end for end. The beetle escapes by biting a 

 circular cap from the case. The ants are apt 

 to attack and kill the beetle, so that it has to 

 be careful in getting out of the nest. 



In the new publication — Fauna Arctica — 

 edited by Drs. F. Eomer and F. Schaudimi, 

 thei-e have appeared two papers on arctic in- 

 sects. One, on the Collembola,* is by C. 

 Schaeffer, and the other, on the Lepidoptera.f 

 is by A. Pagenstecher. 



In the former there is a complete bibliog- 

 raphy, and then an annotated catalogue of 

 the 61 species of spring-tails known frona the 

 arctic and subarctic regions. This is followed 

 by a tabulated statement of the distribiition 

 of the species. Schaeffer records several spe- 

 cies from the United States not previously 

 known to occur here; these are Achorutes 

 tullbergi var. concolor, Isotoma cinerea and 

 Tomocerus vulgaris var. siberica, all from 

 Massachusetts. 



In the two hundred quarto pages of Dr. 

 Pagenstecher's work there are catalogued 

 nearly 1,000 butterflies and moths from the 

 arctic and nearby regions. The full synonymy 

 is given, and many notes on distribution. The 

 catalogue is preceded by an annotated bibliog- 

 raphy, containing much interesting matter. 



Catalogues seem to be the order of the day, 

 and Darboux and Houard have written one 

 that will be as useful as any. It is a descrip- 

 tive catalogue:): of the European galls, or 

 plant deformations caused by animals. It is 

 arranged alphabetically according to the host 

 plant. Under each plant is a tabular synopsis 

 of the species found on that plant. This syn- 



* Fauna Arctica, Vol. I., 2d part, Article No. 

 VII., 1900. 



t Fauna Arctica, Vol. II., 2d part. Article No. 

 VI., 1901. 



t ' Catalogue syst&natique des Zooc^cidies de 

 I'Europe et du bassin mgditerraneen,' by G. Dar- 

 boux and C. Houard. Paris, 1901. 543 pp., 863 

 figs. Volume supplgmentalre du Bulletin Scien- 

 tifique de la France et de la Belgique. 



opsis is based on the nature and shape of the 

 deformation, and not on the characters of the 

 animals. The great majority belong to three 

 groups, the Ceeidomyidse of the Diptera, the 

 Eriophyidse (Phytoptidse) of the Acarina, and 

 the Cynipidte of the Hymenoptera. Over 

 4,000 kinds of galls or deformations are thus 

 treated. This volume is to be followed by an- 

 other containing a supplement, references to 

 all the described species and descriptions of 

 new forms. 



Dr. M. Eegimbart has published a mono- 

 graph of the large beetles formerly jalaced in 

 the genus Hydrophilus.* We have two of 

 these species in the United States; one of 

 them is very commonly found under electric 

 lights in the cities. This is now known as 

 Stethoxus triangularis Say, while the rarer 

 species (ovalis Ziegler) is placed in the new 

 genus Diholocelus. 



Dr. F. Meinert has completed a study of the 

 larvae of the coleopterous family Dytiscidse.t 

 UnfortuSately it is piiblished in Danish, but 

 there is a French resume, from which one 

 may gather the main facts of the article. 

 However the larval characters of the genera 

 and species are in Latin. The larvse of 49 

 species are described, and, in many cases, fig- 

 ured. Upon a study of these larvae he bases 

 a new classification of this and allied families 

 included in the Caraboidea of Ganglbauer. 

 The six families he reduces to four. The 

 Carabidse includes the Carabinse, and the Ci- 

 cindelinai; the Dytiscidse includes the Dytis- 

 cinae, Pelobiinse, ISToterina and Amphizoinas. 

 The Halipidfe and Gyrinidse stand as usual. 



In the Journal of the Hungarian Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture Joseph Losy has published 

 a very full account of the bee-louse, Braula 

 coeca.X The text is in Magyar, but one may 

 gain much information from the many large 

 and excellent figures. The article deals chiefly 



* ' Revision des grands Hydrophiles,' Ann. Soc. 

 Ent. France, LXX., pp. 188-230, 1902. 



t ' Vandkalvelarverne (Larvae Dytiscidarura),' 

 Kgl. Danslce. Vidensk. Selsk. Skr. (6), Vol. IX., 

 No. 8, 1901, pp. 341-440, 6 plates. 



t ' A meh gs a m^htetu egyuttgl^se,' KisMe- 

 tiigyi Kozlemenyek, Vol. V., Part 2 (1902), pp. 

 163-203, 3 plates, 6 figures. 



