1897.] Entomology. 551 
Mr. A. L. Quaintance has made interesting notes? concerning the 
life history of Brachytarsus alternatus. He finds that instead of feed- 
ing on scale insects as had previously been supposed, the adults and 
larva feed on corn, beans and cow-peas. 
Mr. C. W. Piper records’ some interesting notes on the sembling 
habits of a certain ladybird ¢ Coccinella transverso-guttata) in Washing- 
ton. He finds that they are in the habit of collecting in large num- 
bers on the summits of mountains with no apparent object. In one 
-case this was so noticeable as to give the name ladybird mountain toa 
certain peak. 
Dr. John Hamilton is unable to follow Captain Casey “ in splitting 
Anthicus into ten genera with meaningless barbaric names; these so- 
called genera are simply groups convenient for the purpose of analysis 
and nearly all previously recognized by various authors. In a cata- 
logue these groups may properly be noted by XXX, or, as in the 
European, designated by numerals.’”® Most entomologists will agree 
with Dr. Hamilton in his criticism ; unnecessary divisions into genera 
are not to be encouraged.—C. M. W 
Diptera.—Mr. E. Porter Felt has contributed" to the knowledge 
of the structure of the antennz of certain male diplosids. He confirms 
the observations of Kieffer” concerning certain novel structures which 
he describes as follows: ‘The arched filaments differ widely from 
ordinary sets, though they occur in whorls in the same manner. They 
arise from pits in the chitine in much thesame way as do the set, but, 
instead of remaining single and tapering to a point, they divide at 
their base into two equal branches which diverge to the middle of their 
length, where they recurve sharply as a rule and turn to unite with the 
base of the adjoining filaments in the whorl. Thus by means of the 
anastomosises these arched filaments, which from their designation one 
would expect to be free from each other, are in reality continuous, and 
form a looped thread around the segment with anchoring branches at 
regular intervals.” 
In a later article,” M. Janet has figured in detail the peculiar inser- 
‘tion of the arched filaments and presented a theory of their develop- 
ment. He suggests “that they may have arisen as hypodermic lamel- 
3 Ent. News, VIII, 1, 2. 
? Ent. News, VIII, 49-51. 
Ent. News, VIII, 35. 
" Psyche, VIII, 3-5. 
` 12 Bull. Seances, Soc. Ent. Fr., 1895, p. CXCII. 
13 Bull. Seances, Soc. Ent. Fr., 1896, pp. 37, 183-185. .- 
