432 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXI. Xo. 794 



ancient Babylonian wheel had six spokes while 

 the ancient wheels in Egypt and Greece had 

 only four tends to support the hypothesis 

 that among the former an angle of 60° was 

 regarded as normal while the right angle was 

 regarded as normal among the latter. At any 

 rate, the hypothesis advanced by Professor 

 Hoppe tends to throw additional light on a 

 question which relates to our daily experiences, 

 but had not received a satisfactory answer. 

 G. A. Miller 

 Uebana, Iix. 



NOTE 8 ON ENTOMOLOGY 

 The first volume of Mr. Kirkaldy's long- 

 expected catalogue of the Hemiptera Heterop- 

 tera of the world has been issued, and is truly 

 a great work. Indeed it is, if possible, too ex- 

 tensive and elaborate for ready reference. 

 This volume^ treats of the families known to 

 us as Pentatomidse, Scutelleridae and Oydnidae. 

 The general plan is similar to that of the 

 Lethierry and S ever in _ Catalogue : the species 

 of each genus are numbered, the localities at 

 the right side of the page, and each reference 

 includes the generic name used by each 

 writer. Wherever known the food plants are 

 given. In the introduction he has a classifi- 

 cation of the order, and an exposition of the 

 rules of nomenclature followed by him, which 

 differ in several respects from those commonly 

 adopted by entomologists. 



The era of discovery of strange insects is 

 not yet passed. Dr. Karl Jordan has described 

 a new and truly remarkable genus of insects 

 which was found in a sack on the wings of a 

 Malayan bat.'' He considers that it belongs to 

 the ForficulidEe, but its resemblance to the 

 common earwigs is extremely slight. It is a 

 very flat insect, with a pair of small, curved, 

 oval cerci; the pro- and mesothorax have a 

 median suture; the head looks like that of a 

 perlid larva, with a suture from eye to eye, the 

 basal joint of the antennae is very large and 

 long. Dr. Jordan calls it Arixenia esau. He 

 * " Catalogue of the Hemiptera Heteroptera," 

 Vol. I., CimicidiE, pp. 392, Berlin, December, 1909. 

 'Novitates Zoologicw, Vol. 16, pp. 313-326, 

 1909, 3 plates. 



considers that it shows some relation to Hemi- 

 merus, and that it may possibly form a new 

 suborder of Orthoptera. It might be useful to 

 compare the insect with some of the Mallo- 

 phaga, as a possible connecting link between 

 them and some of the neuropteroid insects. 



Dr. Alex. Schepotieff describes a new 

 genus of primitive insects' which he calls 

 Protapteron indicum; it comes from the 

 Malabar coast. It is a small, slender form and 

 has some resemblance to Acerentomon, but 

 probably more allied to Campodea. It has 

 four pairs of rudimentary feet on the basal 

 abdominal segments, each two-jointed. There 

 are no terminal cerci, and the antennae are 

 slender; there are five widely separated ocelli 

 on each side of the head; each segment has 

 only a dorsal and ventral plate, no other 

 chitinized parts; the tarsi end in a single 

 claw ; and there are but two pairs of spiracles. 



Dr. Albert Tullgren is the author of a 

 most valuable paper on Swedish Aphidse.' In 

 this first part he treats of the Swedish Pemphi- 

 ginse. This subfamily he divides into six 

 groups: Vacunina, Hormaphidina, Mindarina, 

 Pemphigina, Schizoneurina and Anoeciina. 

 He gives a full description of each genus and 

 species, and as much of the life history as is 

 now known. He reviews the previous classi- 

 fications of the subfamily Pemphiginse, and 

 presents considerable matter on the structure 

 of the group. The numerous figures illustrate 

 the essential structural characters, such as 

 head, antennae, cornicles and wings. 



Dr. a. E. Shipley has given a valuable ac- 

 count of the insects affecting the red grouse- 

 in Scotland." These are principally a biting 

 louse, Goniodes tetraonis, the bird fly, Ornitho- 

 myia lagopodis and a dung-fly, Scaiophaga 

 stercoraria. The author has not found any 

 connection between any of these parasites and 



' " Studien titer niedere Insecten," Zool. Jahrb., 

 Ait. Syst., Vol. 28, pp. 121-135, 1909, 3 pis. 



* " Aphidologische Studien," Arkiv f. Zoologi^ 

 Bd. v., No. 14, pp. 190, figs. 92, 1909. 



° " The Ectoparasites of the Red Grouse ( La- 

 gopus scoticus)," Proc. Zool. 8oc. London, 1909, 

 pp. 309-334. 



