68 General Notes. [ January, 
ceedings of the U. S. National Museum, is a valuable contribu- 
tion to our knowledge of the flora of the Southwest. Ina 
twenty-four page pamphlet, reprinted from Studies in the Bio- 
logical Laboratory of the Johns Hopkins University, Dr. William 
Trelease records his observations on several Zodgloez and related 
forms. The following new species are described and figured, viz: 
Bacterium candidum, B. aurantiacum, B. luteum, B. chlorinum, B. 
incarnatum. A valuable feature of the work recorded is its bio- 
logical character. One lays down the pamphlet with the feeling 
that much work can be done upon the basis of Dr. Trelease’s 
observations. This record is an incentive to further study. 
r. Trelease’s inaugural address, delivered upon his accession to 
the directorship of the Henry Shaw School of Botany, in St. Louis, 
November 6, is an admirable presentation of the claims of botany 
toa place in general education. The January Botanical Gazette 
will contain a portrait and biographical sketch of Dr. Asa Gray, 
together with some of the poems, congratulatory addresses, etc., 
which were sent on his birthday, November 18, 1885. 
ENTOMOLOGY. 
Recent Discovery oF CARBONIFEROUS InsEcTs.—A rich deposit 
of Carboniferous insects has been discovered at Commentry, in 
the department of Allier, France, and has been worked up by 
C. Brongniart, whose work, however, has not yet been received. 
From a notice of his paper in the Axtomologische Nachrichten for 
November last, we learn that over 1300 specimens of insect 
remains, not wings alone but also the bodies, have been preserved 
to science. 
While an exclusive study of the shape and venation of the wings 
must necessarily have led to many errors, the discoveries at Com- 
mentry show that insects which are regarded as among the most 
ancient are still surprisingly like those of the present time, and 
only differ in comparatively unimportant respects. 
In the oldest strata, the Silurian, has been found but a single 
winged insect, the still very problematical Palgoblattina douvillet 
rong.; in the Devonian only the six species of insects, as to 
whose relations excellent naturalists, such as S. H. Scudder and 
H. Hagen, have very different views, and relative to which dis- 
cussion has not yet closed. Before the present discovery only 
120 specimens of Palzeozoic insects were known. 
From the Carboniferous formation of Commentry Brongniart 
has obtained over 1300 examples. Among them occurs the first 
fossil Thysanuran, represented by forty-five specimens. It differs 
from existing forms only by having a single caudal filament, and 
exclusive of this is 15 to 22™™ long, and is generally similar to 
Machilis; it is named Dasyleptus lucasi. Numerous representa- 
tives of our recent Acridians are brought together under the 
= 
