Apeil 21, 1911] 



SCIENCE 



623 



The report is weak in its discussion of fos- 

 sil peat, only two or three occurrences being 

 briefly mentioned. It is very probable, how- 

 ever, that there are no deposits of this sort in 

 the state which are not too small or too deeply 

 buried to be of commercial value. At the same 

 time, the reviewer's experience in the southern 

 states shows that Pleistocene or older peats 

 are more wide-spread, if not more extensive 

 individually, than recent peats, and their bo- 

 tanical records are often of the greatest value. 

 For example, such a deposit just across Perdido 

 Bay from Florida contains not only ancestral 

 forms of Nyssa, Hicoria and live-oaks, but 

 abundant remains of the genus Trapa, which 

 is unknown in the existing flora of the west- 

 ern hemisphere. 



Edward W. Berry 



Johns Hopkins University 



NOTES ON ENTOMOLOGY 



Among the recent parts of the " Catalogus 

 Coleopterorum " are part 19 — Staphylinidae 

 (1), by A. Bernhauer and K. Schubert; part 

 20 — Aphodiinss, by A. Schmidt; 21 — Gyrin- 

 idse, by K. Alwarth; 22— Tenebrionida (2), 

 by H. Gebien; 23— Cleridse, by S. Schenkling; 

 24— Histerida, by H. Biekhardt; 25— Cebri- 

 onidse, by K. W. von Dalla Torre, and 26 — 

 Scraptiidse and Pedilidse, by M. Pic. 



A NEW French entomological journal is 

 Insecta, Revue Illustree d'Entomologie, pub- 

 lished by the entomological station of the 

 faculty of sciences of Rennes, F. Guitel, 

 editor. It is a monthly, and the first number 

 contains articles on orthoptera, coleoptera and 

 economic entomology; all the systematic ar- 

 ticles are illustrated. 



The peculiar larval cases of the Crypto- 

 cephalidse and the remarkable larvae of the 

 Cassidse with their highly modified tails have 

 always been entertaining subjects with coleop- 

 terists. Mr. Karl Fiebrig has added greatly 

 to this interest by his article on these insects.' 

 The life history of a number of South Amer- 



^ ' ' Cassiden und Cryptocephaliden Paraguays, 

 irhre Entwicklungsstadien und Schutzvorricht- 

 ungen, " ZooX. Jahrh. Supp., 12, heft 2, pp. 161- 

 264, 5 pis., 1910. 



ican species is given more or less completely, 

 and the plates (partly colored) illustrate many 

 details of structure. 



Me. a. M. Lea is the author of an inter- 

 esting article on the beetles occurring in ants' 

 nests in Australia and Tasmania.^ Although 

 the paper is a systematic one, there are notes 

 on the habits and occurrence of many of the 

 species. Most of the species belong to the 

 Pselaphidse; many are new; there are 23 spe- 

 cies of Articerus and 14 of the curious long- 

 legged Histerid — Chlamydopsis. A new fam- 

 ily is based on a new genus, Tretothorax, 

 placed between the Rhysodidas and Gucujidae; 

 the mouth-parts are entirely concealed by the 

 broad mentum, the hind tarsi four-jointed, 

 the others five-jointed; it is a slender insect, 

 with short and broad antennae. 



The first part of the work on the aquatic 

 flies of Germany is issued, the author being 

 Dr. K. Griinberg.' This part includes all the 

 diptera with aquatic larvse except the Chiro- 

 nomidae, which will be treated in the second 

 part. There are synoptic tables to the genera 

 and species and in many cases to the genera 

 of the larvae as far as known. Since many of 

 the genera and a number of the species also 

 occur in the United States, the book will be 

 of considerable use to Americans. The ar- 

 rangement of the Culicidffi is that generally 

 followed a few years ago. 



The twenty-fourth lieferung of " Das Tier- 

 reich " is on the hymenopterous gall-flies 

 (Cynipidae), and is by Dr. K. W. von Dalla 

 Torre and Professor J. J. Kieffer; 891 pages, 

 420 figs. About 1,200 species are treated; the 

 genera are used in a broad sense, many recent 

 segregates being sunk as sjnionyms, or sub- 

 genera. Tables are given for the galls of the 

 old and new world. In the back is a list of 

 genera, with references, derivation and origi- 

 nally included species. 



- ' ' Australian and Tasmanian Coleoptera Inhab- 

 iting or Resorting to the Nests of Ants, Bees and 

 Termites," Froo. Boy. Soc. Victoria, XXIII., pp. 

 116-230, 3 pis., 1910. 



' ' ' Die Siisswasserf aima Deutsehlands, ' ' Heft 

 2A, Diptera, Jena, 1910, pp. 312, 348 figs. 



