662 General Notes. (June, 
though no direct observations were made on the subject, Dr. 
Hagen thinks that the black-flies attack and suck the helpless 
chrysalides. That Simulium can subsist on insect blood is not 
strange, since fleas and mosquitos are known to so subsist, and 
the correctness of the belief seems to be corroborated by the cir- 
cumstance that in those places where the Pieris abounded Simul- 
ium molested neither man nor beast; while where the butterfly 
was wanting the travelers were exposed to the usual annoyance 
by the flies. 
Loncevity 1n A BrettE—Dr. D. Sharp notes (Entomological 
Monthly Magazine, April, pp. 260-1) that he kept a female of a 
water-beetle (Dytiscus ræselii Fabr.) alive for nearly five years, and 
that during the first two years a male accompanied her. Copt- 
lation between the two insects was actually observed, yet a post 
mortem examination of the female showed the ovaries very 
small, the tubes containing no eggs, and, so far as known, the 
beetle never deposited an 
Dr. Sharp explains this fact that, in his experience, it is very 
difficult to get the larger Dytiscidz to oviposit in confinement, 
and that the eggs are only developed in the ovaries under circum- 
stances suitable for their deposition. 
Synopsis oF THE N. A. Hexioraina.—Mr. John B. Smith l 
gives us, in the Transactions of the American Entomological a 
ciety (Vol. x, pp. 205-255) a synopsis of this sub-tamily, or group, 
as he prefers to term it. The paper is illustrated with two plates, 
one of outlines showing the typical venation of the primaries, 
admits that no really scientific classification of the sub: e 
; 
X 
2 
+ 
yet been made, and that his classification may be enter rather. 
by individual opinion than by the conviction which serious Smith 
