780 
SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 
“ epigastric ” glandular cells which arise from a local degeneration of 
the larval hypodermis. While the hypostigmatic glands already 
described appear before hatching, and persist throughout life, the epi- 
gastric cells do not appear until the time of cocoon-spinning. While 
the hypostigmatic cells remain numerically constant, the epigastric cells 
multiply abundantly by amitotic division during the period of pupation. 
And while the hypostigmatic cells have nuclei which show a characteris- 
tic tendency to branching, the epigastric cells have nuclei, which are 
always roundish and never have lateral processes. 
Papillae on Feet of Silkworm.* * * § — Sig. E. Verson denies the cor- 
rectness of Tichomiroff’s observation that among the hooklets on the 
sole of the abdominal feet of the silkworm there is also an attaching 
papilla which secretes a viscid substance. There is no secretory 
activity, and the papilla is only a loose cuticular fold on whose lateral 
margins, at each moult, new hooklets are protruded. The feet may, 
however, act like suckers, and then the hooklets do not come into 
operation. 
International Relations of Lomechusa.t — Herr E. Wasmann de- 
scribes the treatment which Lomechusa strumosa F., a regular guest of 
Formica sanguinea, receives at the hands of various ants. The guest is 
also found in the homes of F. rufa and F. pratensis , and very rarely in 
the independent colonies of F. fusca and F. rufibarbis , species which are 
known to be slaves of F. sanguinea. It is a “true guest,” often licked 
by its host, and fed like a larva. Technically it is one of the Aleo- 
charinae. Its larvae are reared along with those of its host, although it 
eats the eggs. 
When transferred to strange colonies of F. sanguinea the guest is at 
once received. Even when the new hosts are without any Lomechusa 
guests, the reception is a welcome. That there is a hereditary prejudice 
in favour of the guest is shown by the fact that quite young colonies of 
F. sanguinea receive Lomechusa with equanimity. Moreover, in most 
cases the helper-ants of F. sanguinea offer no objection to a new guest, 
nor seem to mistrust it in any way. For F. sanguinea , therefore, 
Lomechusa strumosa is a thoroughly international guest. The same 
seems to hold true, though not quite so perfectly, for F. rufa. 
Antennary Structures in Ants.J — Sig. S. Sergi describes three 
kinds of apparently sensory structures on the antennae of Formica fusca , 
Atta barbara, Lasius flavus, and Pheidole megacephala major and minor. 
Sections showed no trace of nerve-fibres going to the organs in question, 
but the author believes that the central white substance in the antennae 
may act like a nerve-cell. As to the function of the organs, no certain 
conclusions can be reached where experiment is almost impossible, but 
it is likely that the three structures are auditory, olfactory, and tactile. 
American (Estridae with Larvae living in the Human Skin.§— • 
Dr. R. Blanchard gives an account of the larvae belonging to four 
different species of the Dipterous genus Dermatobia which in the inter- 
* Zool. Anzeig., xv. (1892) pp. 279-81. 
f Biol. Oentralbl., xii. (1892) pp. 584-99. 
% Bull. Soc. Entomol. Ital., xxiv. (1892) pp. 18-25 (2 figs.). 
§ Ann. Soc. Entomol. France, 1892, pp. 109-54 (12 figs.). 
