728 General Notes. 
genus. The little wound produced by the insect caused a slight 
swelling and irritation, much like a mosquito bite, for an hour or 
two. Possibly this arises from a poisonous exudation from the 
surface of the joint; so far as I can discover there is no true 
poison gland. Ee 3 
I have never heard nor read of any case where the antenna of — 
insects were used as defensive weapons, and the fact appears to 
me to be of much interest. Many beetles have antennal spines, 
which are perhaps used for a like purpose. Certainly the femoral 
spines of allied species are defensive arms, and pretty formidable 
ones, as every entomologist knows who has tried to catch the in- 
sects with his fingers. So are the thoracic spines of many Cer — 
ambycide, the femoral spines of certain large moths, the hae 
and thoracic horns of Scarabzidze, and so on.—Herbert H. Smith — 
__ POLYMORPHISM OF MALE Lucanip&®.—At the meeting of the — 
London Zodlogical Society for Dec. 18, 1883, Dr. F. Leuthner 
read an abstract of a memoir which he had prepared on the Odon- 
tolabini, a sub-family of the coleopterus family Lucanida, remark- , 
able for the polymorphism of the males, while the females remained | 
very similar. The males were stated to exhibit four very distin 
phases of development in their mandibles, which the author pre i 
posed to term “ priodont,” “amphiodont,” “ mesodont, and s: 4 
odont.” These forms were strongly marked in some species, but 
in others were connected by insensible gradations, and had been , 
treated as distinct species. 
REPORT OF THE ENTOMOLOGIST OF THE U. S. DEPARTMENT oF ; 
AGRICULTURE FOR 1883.—Professor Riley’s report is shorter wt 
on insects injurious to the cabbage, except mention of preg 
pillars more specially injurious. The special agents in eae : 
fir and larch in northern New England, illustrated by two pla pt ve 
i ; his abiti sp. and Nematus tnt 
of Tortrix fumiferana, Gelechia abietisella, s #3 e Hubbard has 
continued his work at Crescent City, Florida, where he n 
on scale-insect insecticides. Mr. Bruner made in the 5 age | 
1883 an extensive journey from New Mexico to Mo ong the 
ing facts relating to the Rocky Mountain locust. Dr. S. W. 
other collaborators of the Entomological Bureau Tachinidae, two 
Williston, who is working up the Syrphidæ and Tac d Mr. Joba 
families comprising insects so useful to the farmer ; ge hopsa®ð 
B. Smith, who is engaged on the insects injurious to H% . 
‘cranberry, as well as a monograph of the Noctuide. 
_ Besides notes on the silk-worm industry, insects 
