1886.] Entomology. 171 
that workers do sometimes lay eggs, those eggs invariably pro- 
duce male ants. Hence, in such a case, the duration of the nest 
gives us the age of the workers; at least they cannot be younger, 
though, of course, they may be older. In this way I have kept 
workers of Lasius niger and Formica fusca for more than seven 
years, But, what is more remarkable still, I have now two queens 
of the latter species which I have kept ever since 1874, and 
which, as they were then full-grown, must be now nearly twelve 
years old. They laid fertile eggs again this year, a fact the inter- 
est of which physiologists will recognize. Although a little stiff 
in the joints, and less active than they once were, they are still 
strong and well, and I hope I may still keep them in health for 
some time to come,—.Sir John Lubbock in Contemporary Review 
for Nov. 
EntomotocicaL News.-—In the Proceedings of the Entomo- 
logical Society of Belgium, Dec. 5., the venerable Senator M. 
de Selys-Longchamps gives the outlines of a revision of the 
Agrionines. The Zettschrift fiir Wissen. Zoölogie, October 27, 
contains an elaborate article on the anatomy of the Mallophaga, 
by F. Grosse; it gives excellent figures of the mouth parts. 
Mr. L. Bruner publishes in the Bulletin of the Washburn College 
laboratory of natural history a “ first contribution to a knowledge 
of the Orthoptera of Kansas,” with descriptions of a number of 
new species. In the same publication, Mr. F. W. Cragin 
notices certain Myriopods and Arachnids of Kansas. In 
the Memoirs of the National Academy of Sciences, Mr. S. H. 
Scudder describes and figures a Tertiary Orthopod; it has no dis- 
tinct head. It is referred to the Thysanurans, and regarded as 
the type of a suborder called Ballostoma. We would add, that 
the thysanurous characters do not seem to be well marked, while 
it is possible that the specimens, though numerous, had lost their 
heads. In Dr. Agassiz’ report as curator of the Museum of 
Comparative Zodlogy, it is stated that the museum has received 
from the Peabody Academy of Science at Salem the most import- 
ant collection of insects ever added to the museum. It con- 
tains a large number of types described by prominent American 
and European entomologists. The collection, we may add, was 
brought together mainly by Professor A. S. Packard. It contains 
a large proportion of Packard’s types, including those of his 
monograph of geometrid moths, of which only four species are 
wanting, and nine described by him from specimens belonging to 
other entomologists. It also comprises types of Mr. Grote and 
the late V. T. Chambers, as well as types of Zeller, Staudinger, 
Foerster, Walker, etc. 
