SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



201 



filaments round the body, but without long 

 cottony tails. 

 (5) D. adonidum, L. = longispinus, Targ. Differs 

 from the last by having two very long, 

 slender, cottony tails, as well as two others 

 not so long. It is also a common greenhouse 

 species. A most elaborate account of this and 

 the last species has been lately been published 

 by Berlese, the Italian entomologist. 



6) D. ficiis. Sign. ; on fig at Hyeres and Nice. 



About twice as large as adonidum, to which it 

 is allied. 



7) D. indicus, Sign. ; on Laurus indicus at Nice. 



Resembles adonidum. When boiled in caustic 

 potash it gives a crimson colour. 



8) D. lavandul, Sign. ; in the south of France ; no 



roots of Lavandula staechas. Brownish-yellow, 

 2 to 3 mm. long, the lateral, cottony fringes 

 not much developed, 

 g) D. rohinia. Sign. ; at Hyeres, Cannes, Nice and 

 Mentone; on the so-called acacia. 



10) D. viburni, Sign. ; south of France, Maritime 

 Alps and Hyeres ; on laurustinus. Similar to 

 D. citri. 



11) D. vitis, Niedielski. Has been quite a pest 

 where grape-vines are grown out of doors. 

 Very near to adonidum; possibly not a distinct 

 species. 



12) D. walkeri, Newst. See above. Gives a 

 crimson colour in potash. 



13) D. hibernicus, Newst. See above. Differs 

 from other European species in constructing a 

 complete felted sac, which covers it. 



14) D. radicum, Newst. See above. Subterranean, 

 pale reddish-pink, very elongate. Peculiar in 

 having only seven joints to the antennae, like 

 the aberrant forms above described. 



15) D. bromeliiS, Bouche. A greenhouse species, 

 found on various plants. Its identification is 

 rather uncertain ; probably two or more 

 species have been confused under this name. 



16) D.cyperi, Sign. ; on Cyperus papyrus. Resembles 

 adonidum. 



17) D. hoyw. Sign. ; on Hoya carnosa in the green- 

 houses of the Due de Vallombrosa, at Cannes. 

 Resembles adonidum . 



iS) D. liliacearum, Bouche ; on Amaryllis, Crinum, 

 Pancratium, etc., in cultivation. Imperfectly 

 known. 



ig) D. viamillariis, Bouche ; on species of mami- 

 laria in cultivation. Resembles adonidum, but 

 generally smaller, and there is a difference 

 in the antennae. The Westivoodia mainillarits, 

 of Targioni-Tozzetti, is supposed to be a 

 different species, and if valid will need a new 

 name. 

 (20) D. perrisii, Sign. ; found at Mont-de-Marsan. 

 Yellow, with white powdery secretion ; length, 

 5 mm., breadth ij ; was made the type 



of a new genus Westwoodia ; also called 

 Signoretia and Bergrothia. All these generic 

 names are preoccupied, and a new one is 

 required if the insect is removed from Dacty- 

 lopius. 



(21) D. p ley idis. Sign.; on Pteris argyrea. Resembles 

 adonidum. 



(22) D. tuliparum, Bouche. Imperfectly known. 

 Said to be smaller, more depressed, and 

 narrower than liliacearum. 



(23) D. theobrotna, Douglas ; on Theobroma cacas, in 

 the Royal Botanic Society's Garden in Regent's 

 Park. Hardly differs from citri, e.\cept that 

 joint 7 of antennae is considerably shorter 

 than 2. (See Ent. Mo. Mag., July, 1889, 



P- 3^7-) 



(24) D. zamicB. Lucas. A greenhouse species, on 

 zamia spiralis ; supposed to come from 

 Australia. Imperfectly known. 



Descriptions of most of the above will be found 

 in Signoret's famous " Essai sur les Cochenilles." 

 Of scarcely one-fourth of them can it be said that 

 we have anything like adequate knowledge. 

 Several may not prove to be valid species, when 

 they are properly known. 



Mesilla, New Mexico, U.S. A . ; 

 October, igth, i8g6. 



HABITS OF DORMICE. 



ON the 26th of October, whilst walking through 

 some underwood, I stepped on what proved, 

 by examination, to be a nest of the common 

 dormouse {Myoxjis avellanarius) containing three 

 young ones only a day or two old. I have found 

 nests of this interesting little quadruped with 

 young ones from May until the middle of 

 September, but, as October seemed to be unusually 

 late to find it breeding, I made some enquiries 

 among the keepers here, and none of them 

 remember having observed so late a brood. Bell, 

 in his " History of British Quadrupeds," second 

 edition, p. 2S4, says : " We have reason to believe 

 that, in some cases at least, the dormouse 

 has a second brood early in the autumn, as 

 we have received from one locality, in the month 

 of September, an adult one, one half grown, and 

 three very young ones, apparently not more than 

 a fortnight or three weeks old." Whilst on the 

 subject of dormice, I may mention a singular fact 

 that came before my notice in the spring of this 

 year. From time to time, chaffinchs' nests which 

 I found containing two or three eggs, on re- 

 e.xamination, had the interior very much disturbed, 

 and the eggs either broken or quite covered up, 

 and woven into the lining of the nest, this having 

 caused the bird to desert it. I was much puzzled 

 as to the cause of the mischief, until one day I 

 osberved a dormouse busily employed in the occu- 

 pation of a chaffinch's nest ; and from what I then 

 and afterwards noticed, have no doubt that these 

 little creatures occasionally use such nests as a 

 basis for their own. I have in my collection a nest 

 so diverted, having captured the usurper in it. 



D.wiD J. Rice. 



Squires' Farm, Wcitcott, near Dorking ; 

 December, 1S96. 



I 2 



