176 
SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 
breathe through their skin during the first part of their larval life, while 
during the second period they breathe by stigmata. In Paraponyx sp. 
the leaf-walls of the caterpillar’s case give off oxygen, which is utilized ; 
it is likely that the same is true of Hydrocampa and Cataclysta. In the 
pupsB of the above-mentioned forms the stigmata of the second and third 
or second and fourth abdominal segments are much protruded, and are 
alone open. The pupae are enveloped in a white, air-containing cocoon, 
between which and the external medium there is gaseous interchange. 
Without this mediating cocoon the pupae soon die in the water. 
Secretion of Potassium Hydroxide by Dicranura vinnla.* — 
Mr. 0. H. Latter has investigated the means by which the imago suc- 
ceeds in piercing the exceedingly hard cocoon formed by the larva of 
V. vinula. He finds that it produces, probably from the mouth, a 
solution of potassium hydroxide, by which it softens the cocoon. The 
labium of the wings is provided with two sharply pointed processes, 
which are used for scraping the inner surface of the cocoon ; the eyes 
and median portion of the head of the pupa are retained as a protecting 
shield over the same structures of the imago until emergence is com- 
pleted. 
Aglia tau.f — Prof. A. S. Packard looks on this' Bomby cine moth as 
a connecting link between the Ceratocampidae and Saturniidse, and as 
the type of a new subfamily Agliinae. He thinks it quite reasonable to 
suppose that the Saturnians are directly descended from a form like 
Aglia , and that we could scarcely expect a clearer demonstration of the 
origin of one family from another by direct genetic descent. He gives 
detailed reasons for these views. 
Sensory Nature of “Appendix” of Antennae of Coleopterous 
Larvae. J — Mr. C. J. Gahan brings forward evidence to favour the view 
that the structure on the distal surface of the penultimate segment of the 
antennae of many larval Coleoptera, which has been called “ appendix ” 
and by various other names, is of a sensory nature. When that of the 
Carabid genus Pterostichus is examined under the Microscope, it is seen to 
consist of a short stalk, which supports a cap composed of a thin trans- 
parent cuticular membrane, which appears to be lined by very small 
cells. The cap has the form of a short cone with curved sides, and has 
as its base a narrow and thickened chitinous ring. Within the laterally 
expanded distal portion of the third segment there appears to be a gan- 
glionic swelling of the antennary nerve, from which fibres or rods were 
seen to extend into the collar. 
Although auditory rods have not yet been seen, the author thinks 
that, from its position and from the way in which it is guarded by long, 
stiff setae, as well as from its general structure, this hitherto somewhat 
neglected “appendix” will be shown to be an auditory nerve. 
Biological Notes on Hymenoptera.§ — Herr C. Verhoeff begins by 
pointing out that if we would understand the colonies of wasps and bees, 
we must learn more about the Fossoria. He classifies and describes the 
* Trans. Entomol. Soc. Lond., 1892, pp. 287-92 (4 figs.). 
t Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., xi. (1893) pp. 172-5. X Tom. cit., pp. 154-6. 
§ Zool. Jahrb., vi. (1892) pp. 680-754 (2 pis.). 
