376 
SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 
frequent in Polyergus rufescens Latr., very rare in Myrmica sulcinodis , 
and so on. The author proceeds to a brief discussion of pseudogynous 
forms, and notes, in regard to their frequency, that in 315 Sanguinea- 
colonies in the neighbourhood of Exaeten, 30 contained these interesting 
transition-forms. 
Eelations of Antennophorus and Lasius.* * * § — M. Charles Janet gives 
the results of his observations on the relations of Antennophorus Ulil- 
manni Haller and Lasius mixtus Nyl. The former is an Acarid which 
is epizoic upon the ant. It fixes itself on the lower surface of the head, 
or on the sides of the abdomen by means of the carunculte in which its 
feet terminate, and which are furnished with an adhesive substance. 
These mites are blind ; but the first pair of feet is transformed into long 
antenniform appendages provided with very sensitive olfactory organs. 
A working ant usually carries only one parasite, but may carry several 
without beiug hindered from taking part in the work of the colony. 
The mite attaches itself to the naked nymphs, but never to a- nymph 
enveloped in a cocoon. Its shows a marked preference for newly 
hatched nymphs, probably because these are the recipients of much care 
from the older workers. The presence of the mite is tolerated by the 
ants, which apparently give it food willingly, and the mite subsists 
solely on the fluid disgorged by its bearers ; so that it is a case of very 
advanced myrmecophily. 
Palps of Butterflies.f — Herr E. Eeuter has studied the palps of 670 
species of butterfly, belonging to 302 genera, paying special attention to 
the external form, the hairy or scaly covering, and the basal spot — a bare 
space on the inner side of the basal joint — which is striated, pitted, and 
set with numerous conical hair-scales. The importance of this patient 
task is of course taxonomic, and the author applies his results to the 
elaboration of a genealogical tree. The Hesperiidae are regarded as a 
distinct suborder, and are separated from the Rliopalocera under the name 
of Grypocera. 
A Californian Book-Worm.J — Mr. H. G. Hanks describes and 
figures a larval insect which he found burrowing in his books, and 
apparently feeding upon the skins and glue used in the binding. It was 
5-8 mm. in length, with 13 or 14 silvery-white segments with sparse 
hairs. The head was amber-coloured, with two antennse which could be 
retracted into a sheath. Mandibles, three pairs of clawed legs, and five 
pairs of sucker-like appetfdages, were present. The author does not 
pretend that his description is a scientific one. 
Tendons and Muscles of Hymenoptera.§ — M. Charles Janet de- 
scribes the articular membranes, the tendons, and the muscles, of ants, 
bees, and wasps. Each muscle consists of a group of fibres, almost always 
divergent ; one of the insertions is usually expanded, and the other con- 
densed. At the expanded insertion each fibre is fixed by its whole dia- 
meter to the chitinous skeleton ; at the condensed insertion each fibre is 
* Comptes Rendus, cxxiv. (1897) pp. 583-5. Ann. Nat. Hist., 1897, pp. 620-3. 
t Acta Soc. Fenn., xxii. (1896) 6 pis. Ann. Nat. Hist., xx. (1897) pp. 111-5. 
j Read at a meeting of the San Francisco Micr. Soc., June 16, 1897 (1 pp., 1 ph). 
§ ‘Etudes sur les Fourmis, les Guepes et les Aheilles,’ 12 me note, Limoges, 8vo, 
1895, 25 pp. and 11 figs. 
