43 
skins, although adult. The fact, then, that the specimens under obser- 
vation by ]\Ir. Damin shed skins does not prove that they were imma- 
ture when captured. Having- shown the possibility that they were 
mature, the further possibility that they had been impregnated by the 
male before capture and that the spermatophores had remained alive 
in the receptaculum seminis, as they have been known to do for months, 
must be admitted. The entire evidence thus breaks down and we must 
await further proof. It may be worthy of mention also that the male 
of Filistata is well known in this country. 
THE BLATTARI^E OF AUSTRALIA AND POLYNESIA. 
In the Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia for 1892, 
Mr. J. G. O. Tepper has published an important paper describing fully 
the Blattaihe (or Cockroaches) of Australia and Polynesia. He brings 
into his list 193 species, representing 33 genera and .10 families, of 
Which one family, 9 genera, and 55 species are new. This is a very 
considerable proportion of the known species of the world. Eliminating 
the many synonyms which occur in Walker's catalogue of the species 
in the British Museum, Brunner van Wattenwyl has computed the 
number of endemic species to be 343 and those of wide distribution to 
be 35. Two only are wholly cosmopolitan, and these are Periplaneta 
orientalis, the common Black Beetle of England, and P. ameiicana, the 
large, brown, long-winged species of this country. Mr. Tepper gives 
available synoptic tables of families, but unfortunately for the student 
publishes no tables of genera and species, and has also been unable to 
give illustrations. The publication is still a very valuable one, how- 
ever. 
AN INJURIOUS HAWAIIAN BEETLE. 
Hon. I. Marsden, commissioner of agriculture and forestry of Hawaii, 
has sent us, among other interesting things, specimens of a Scarabaeid 
beetle (Adoretus umbrosus) which he reports is rapidly becoming a 
most serious pest. They were first noticed about two years ago and 
were said to have been brought over from Japan. They are seen after 
dark in enormous numbers and riddle the leaves of many trees and 
plants. The genus is not represented in the United States, and it is 
unlikely that they were introduced from Japan to Hawaii, as they are 
not known in the former country. 
THE SWEET POTATO WEEVIL IN JAMAICA. 
In No. 17 of the " Notes of the Museum " of the Institute of Jamaica 
Prof. 0. H. T. Townsend reports that on the island of Grand Cay- 
man Cylas formicarius has been found attacking potatoes of all 
kinds, " butespecially the large white variety." The insect has appar- 
ently been introduced from Cuba or Pedro (St. Elizabeth), where it 
