154 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XVII. No. 42i. 



sides. We may then say that the dorsal side 

 of the spermatozoon is always directed toward 

 the surface of the drop and that its body is 

 bent or curved toward the left. The second 

 possibility is that the condition here is the 

 same as that described in certain insects by 

 Ballowitz,* who considers the circular motion 

 as a modification of the normal spiral motion 

 which these spermatozoa have when in the 

 middle of the fluid. Being at the surface, 

 further progress in that direction is im- 

 possible. 



Besides the above-mentioned article by Bal- 

 lowitz, Dewitz t has described circular motion 

 in the spermatozoa of Pet-iplaneta orientalis 

 and other insects, and Dungern:j: and Buller§ 

 have found this phenomenon in all classes of 

 the Echinodermata. BuUer's paper, dealing 

 ■with this subject in some detail and including 

 a study of closely allied species, makes any 

 further account of my observations an un- 

 necessary repetition. It is to be hoped, how- 

 ever, that more careful studies on the struc- 

 ture of the Echinoderm spermatozoon will 

 throw some light on the cause of this inter- 

 esting phenomenon if, as seems probable, it 

 be structural. G. M. Winslow. 



Lasell Seminary, Aububndaue, Mass., 

 December 23, 1902. 



WOTES ON ENTOMOLOGY. 

 The question of the interpretation of the 

 mouth parts of Diptera has long been a bone 

 of contention among entomologists. Mr. 

 Walter Wesche in a recent article] | has fur- 

 nished some additional light on the subject. 

 The author found, by examining the eibarian 

 structure of various flies, that in a few forms 

 there are distinct, though small, projections 

 arising from the proboscis near the base of 



* Zeitschr. f. loissen. Zool., Bd. L., 1890, p. 393. 



^ Arch. f. die gesammte Physiologie, Bd. 

 XXXVIII., 1886, p. 358. 



t Cenfralbl. fur Physiologie, Bd. XV., April, 

 1901, Heft 1. 



§ Quart. Jour. Mic. Sci., Vol. 46, Pt. I. 



II ' Undeseribed Palpi on the Proboscis of some 

 Dipterous Flies, with Eemarks on the Mouth 

 Parts of Several Families,' Trans. Roy. Micr. Soc., 

 A^igust, 1902, pp. 412-416, 2 pis. 



the hypopharynx. He considers them as 

 ' rudiments ' (vestiges) of palpi. They are 

 quite prominent in species of Hyetodesia, 

 Spilogaster and Hydrotea; and more or less 

 distinct in many Anthomyidte, Sarcophagidse, 

 Borboridse and Sepsidse, and even in the com- 

 mon house-fly. The position of these palpi 

 indicates, according to the author, that they 

 are maxillary. Therefore, the large palpi of 

 Diptera are labial, and the proboscis is not 

 formed by the union of the labial palpi. The 

 author appears to be ignorant of Dr. Smith's 

 work on the same subject, in which he records 

 two pairs of palpi in the Tabanidse. Both 

 authors, however, agree that the proboscis is 

 not part of the labium. 



The third volume of Mr. Tutt's ' British 

 Lepidoptera ' has been issued.* It is a vol- 

 ume of nearly 600 pages, much of it in fine 

 print. Like the other volumes, its most re- 

 markable feature is the labyrinthine wealth 

 of technical detail. All that has ever been 

 published on British Lepidoptera has been 

 carefully studied, and everything that could 

 be of the slightest interest is reproduced here. 

 This third volume treats of but thirteen spe- 

 cies, several species occupying over twenty- 

 five pages, and one, Lasiocampa quercus, more 

 than sixty pages. Although the work deals 

 with British insects, the amount of matter on 

 biological subjects is so great that the book 

 can but be of immense interest to all con- 

 cerned in the study of Lepidoptera. 



Professor R. Blanchard has given an inter- 

 esting reviewf of the poisonous punctures 

 of certain Hemiptera. He records the find- 

 ing of an Anthocorid, Lycotocoris campestris, 

 in a bed in Liverpool, and a large Eeduviid, 

 Rhodnius prolixus, that at times attacks man 

 in the United States of Colombia. The latter 

 is known locally as the ' Bichuque.' He sum- 

 marizes what has been written on the ' kissing 

 bugs ' of the LTnited States, and adds some 

 European cases of the punctures of Reduvius 

 person.atus. 



Articles on mosquitoes are now quite the 



* ' A Natural History of the British Lepidop- 

 tera,' Vol. III., London, July, 1902. 



t ' Sur la piqflre de quelques Hfimiptferes,' 

 Archives de Parasitologie, V. (1902), pp. 139-148. 



